Bessarion

Bessarion , 1395?-1472, Byzantine humanist, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a leading figure at the Council of Ferrara-Florence , which he attended as metropolitan of Nicaea. He favored ending the schism between East and West, and when the Orthodox Church refused, he joined the Roman Catholic Church and remained in Italy. He was made a cardinal in 1439, and in 1463 the pope named him patriarch of Constantinople. A projected translation into Latin of Ptolemy was completed by his protégés, Purbach and Regiomontanus . His fine collection of Greek manuscripts was the nucleus of St. Mark's library, Venice.

Bessarion (1403–72), cardinal, Greek scholar and statesman. In 1437 he was made Metropolitan of Nicaea by the Emp. John VIII Palaeologus, whom he accompanied to the Council of Ferrara-Florence. He was convinced by the arguments of the Latins and became an advocate of the union of the Greek and Latin Churches. He was made a cardinal in 1439. He fulfilled various ecclesiastical commissions, was nearly elected Pope, and in 1463 Pius II appointed him Patr. of Constantinople (since 1453 in the hands of the Turks). He translated Aristotle's Metaphysics into Latin and was an enthusiastic patron of scholars.