THE text, made up of 26 dialogues, is now forgotten. The dialogues took place towards the end of 1391. At the time, Byzantium was not yet part of Turkey, nonetheless, its ruler Manuel II had to keep a low profile: although he still had the title of king or Autokrator, in fact he was merely a vassal of the sultan ruling in Anatolia.

Byzantium had been fragile and dependent since 1379. When he was 29, because of a dispute with his brother over the t