Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos
Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos (
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Life
Most of our knowledge of Xanthopoulos' biography comes from the opening of his ecclesiastical history. The preface says that he began working on his history at age thirty-six.[4] Nicephorus was trained in the florid, rhetorical style of Renaissance Byzantine historiography. He became a priest at Hagia Sophia and thus gained access to the patriarchal library. He also gave lessons in rhetoric and theology for which he prepared many new progymnasmata (exercises). Xanthopoulos was a friend of Theodoros Metochites, who dedicated his Poem 12 to him. During his later years it is possible that he became a monk.[5]
Work
Ecclesiastica Historia
Xanthopoulos' 23-volume Ecclesiastica Historia (Greek: Εκκλησιαστική Ιστορία; "Church History"), of which only the first eighteen volumes survive, starts the historical narrative from the time of Christ and continues until the execution of the emperor Phokas in 610.[4] The work includes descriptions of secular events, such as the accession of emperors and military campaigns, but emphasizes ecumenical councils, doctrinal disputes, and the four eastern patriarchates.[5]
Xanthopoulos begun his project around 1310 using the basilica's manuscript library and he completed it sometime after 1317.
A table of contents of another five books, continuing the history to the death of Leo VI the Wise in 911, also exists, but whether the books were ever actually written is doubtful. Some modern scholars are of opinion that Nicephorus appropriated and passed off as his own the work of an unknown author of the 10th century. The plan of the work is good and, in spite of its fables and superstitious absurdities, contains important facts which would otherwise have been unknown.[2]
Only one manuscript of the history is known. It was stolen by a Turkish soldier from the library at Buda during the reign of Matthias Corvinus of Hungary and taken to Constantinople, where it was bought by a Christian and eventually reached the imperial library at Vienna.[2][8]
Other
Among Xanthopoulos' other works are commentaries on the writings of the patristic Greek theologian
Notes
- ^ "Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 2023-10-11.
- ^ a b c d e . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 648.
- ^ a b c "Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos | Greek Orthodox, 14th century, theologian | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
- ^ a b c Neville 2018, p. 260.
- ^ a b c Kazhdan 1991, p. 2207.
- ^ Neville 2018, pp. 260–265.
- JSTOR 23958415.
- ^ For this history and events leading up to the first modern editions of the book, see Franco Mormando, "Nicephorus and the Battle of the Books Between Catholics and Protestants" in his essay, "Pestilence, Apostasy and Heresy in Seventeenth-Century Rome," in Piety and Plague: From Byzantium to the Baroque, ed. F. Mormando and T. Worcester, Kirksville: Truman State University Press, 2007, pp. 265–71.
References
- Migne, Patrologia Graeca vols. 145-147 - Greek text and Latin translation.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 648.
- Kazhdan, Alexander (1991), The Oxford Dictionary Of Byzantium, Oxford University Press
- Neville, Leonora (2018), "Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos", Guide to Byzantine Historical Writing, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-107-03998-8
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