Georgius Cedrenus, a Greek monk, lived in the eleventh century, and compiled, largely from the synopsis of Joannes Scylitzes, an historical work which extends from the creation of the world to the year 1057 A.D. He was very deficient in historical knowledge and his work should be used with great caution.
Chalcondyles, Laonicus (Nicolaus), Ἰστορία, edited by J. R. Baumbach, with a Latin translation, Geneva, 1615.
Chalcondyles was a native of Athens, but little is known of his life except that during the siege of Constantinople, in 1446, he was sent by the emperor, John VII, as an ambassador to the Sultan. The ten books of his history deal with the Turks and the later period of the Byzantine Empire, from 1298 to the conquest of Corinth in 1463. The author has chosen a difficult period to describe, when Byzantine affairs were being merged in those of the Turks, Franks, Slavs, and of the Greek despots, and Constantinople no longer formed the chief centre about which events grouped themselves. The book is one of the most important sources for the history of the time. The style is interesting, but the matter is not well arranged. Extraneous observations are frequently introduced, and the author’s knowledge of European geography is amusingly deficient. England, according to his account, consists of three islands united under one government, with a flourishing metropolis, Λονδύνη; her inhabitants being courageous, and her bowmen the finest in the world. Their manners and habits, he says, were exactly like the French, and their speech had no affinity to any other language.
Cinnamus, Joannes, Ἐπιτομὴ τῶν κατορθωμάτων τῷ μακαρ ίτῃ βασιλεῖ καί πορφυρογευνήτῳ κυρῷ Ἰωάννῃ τῷ Κομνηνῷ και ἀφήγησις τῶν πραχθέντων τῷ ἀοιδίμῳ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ πορφυρογεννήτῳ κυρῷ Μανουὴλ τῷ Κομνηνῷ πονηθεῖσα. Ἰοὰννῃ βασιλικῷ γραμματικῷ τῷ Κιννάμῳ, edited by Cornelius Tollius, with a Latin translation, Utrecht, 1652.
Joannes Cinnamus lived in the twelfth century. He was engaged as an imperial notary under Manuel Comnenus, who reigned from 1143 to 1180, and accompanied him on his many military expeditions in Europe and Asia, the office of notary being equivalent to that of a modern secretary of state. His history of the reign of Manuel and of his father, Colo-Joannes, is one of the best of the Byzantine histories.
Comnena, Anna, Ἀλεξίας, Augsburg, 1610.
Anna Comnena, daughter of Alexis I Comnenus, was born 1083 A.D. Gifted by nature with rare talent, she was instructed in every branch of science. After the accession of John, 1118, she was exiled for conspiring to place her husband upon the throne. During her retirement she composed the biography of her father. The Alexias is history in the form of artistic romance. The truth is embellished to suit the purpose of the author, whose aim was to glorify the father and his daughter; but with all its defects, it is still the most interesting and one of the most valuable products of Byzantine literature. Her work is practically a continuation of that of her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius, already mentioned.
Comnenus and Proclus, Ἰστορία Πρελούμπου καὶ ἄλλων διαφόρων Δεσποτῶν τῶν Ἰωαννίνων ἀπὸ τῆς ἀλώσεως αὐτῶν παρὰ τῶν Σέρβων ἕως τῆς παραδόσεως εἰς τοὺς Τούρκους, edited by Andreas Mustoxydes, in his Ἑλληνουμνήμων (Corfu), 1843-1847; edited by G. Destunis, with a Russian translation, St. Petersburg, 1858.
This is a fragment of an alleged history of Epirus.
Constantinus VII, Flavius Porphyrogenitus, Ἱστορικὴ διήγησις τοῦ βίου καί τῶν πράξεων τοῦ Βασιλείου τοῦ βασιλέως (Vita Basilii), edited by Leo Allatius, in his Σύμμικτα, with a Latin translation, Cologne, 1653.