Manuel II and Islam

This article by Marie-Hélène Congourdeau focuses on the *Dialogues* of Manuel II Palaeologus, a fourteenth-century Byzantine emperor, and their relationship to Islam. The study is situated within the context of the controversy sparked by Benedict XVI's quotation of this text at Regensburg in 2006, which had led to a misrepresentation of the Byzantine author. Through a historical and theological approach, the article places the *Dialogues* in their twofold context: the situation of vassalage of Byzantium vis-à-vis the Ottomans and the literature of Islamic-Christian controversy at the end of the empire. The central idea is that these exchanges, conducted in Ankara during a forced winter stay, constitute a remarkable example of authentic interreligious dialogue, grounded in reason as common ground. The contribution of the article is to show that Manuel II, far from being an Islamophobic polemicist, develops a theology of history and a dialogical method of surprising modernity.