TY - JOUR AB - <p>This article deals with the social context of 11th-cenrury Byzantine poetry,<br>especially the poems of Christopher of Mytilene, John Mauropous, and<br>Michael Psellos. In this period an elite of inrellectuals took power at court,<br>clearly distinguishing themselves by their common acquaintance with classical<br>education. Their poetry is considered in this article as a tool of social service<br>in the dynamics of patronage, and similarly, as a way to enhance the position<br>of the author in the field of education or communication in service of<br>the court. In order to uphold these mechanisms of patronage, the illusion had<br>to be shaped that poetry mattered to gain prestige. The inherently generic<br>nature of this poetry is illustrated with some imerpretations of poems.</p> AU - Floris Bernard DA - 2007/1// DO - 10.21825/kzm.v61i0.17425 IS - 0 VL - 61 PB - Koninklijke Zuid-Nederlandse Maatschappij voor Taal- en Letterkunde en Geschiedenis PY - 2007 TI - Verzen voor vriend en vijand: contexten van elfde-eeuwse Byzantijnse poëzie T2 - Handelingen - Koninklijke Zuid-Nederlandse maatschappij voor taal- en letterkunde en geschiedenis UR - https://openjournals.ugent.be/kzm/article/id/72119/ ER -