Chronicle of Monemvasia

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A Byzantine chronicle is referred to as the Chronicle of Monemvasia (or Monembasia in Middle Greek Το χρονικόν της Μονεμβασίας ) .

The work briefly deals with the period from the end of Justinian's reign to the reign of Nikephorus I ; later additions were made until 1339. The chronicle was written in Monemvasia in the southern Peloponnese , but the date is very controversial. Suggestions range from the beginning of the 10th to the early 11th centuries.

The unknown author (whom Johannes Koder tried to equate with Arethas of Kaisareia ) shows a particular interest in the Patras region , which is at the center of the plot. The chronicle is an important source regarding the Slavs' conquest of the Balkans , but the credibility of many statements is disputed. The relevant note that the Slavs ruled the Peloponnese for 218 years from the year 587 onwards was long and controversial in research. Today, however, there is a tendency to take this information as truthful.

The chronicle has been handed down in six manuscripts from the 16th century.

expenditure

  • Cronaca di Monemvasia. Introduzione, testo critico e note . Edited by Ivan Duicev. Palermo 1976. (with Italian translation)
  • Paul Lemerle: La chronique improprement dite de Monemvasie: le contexte historique et légendaire . In: Revue des Études Byzantines 21, 1963, pp. 5-49. (Partial edition with commentary and French translation)

literature

  • Johannes Karayannopulos, Günter Weiß: Source studies on the history of Byzantium (324–1453) . Wiesbaden 1982, p. 373 (No. 271), ISBN 3-447-02244-2 .
  • Ewald Kislinger: Regional history as a source problem. The Chronicle of Monembasia and the Sicilian Demenna . Vienna 2001.
  • Johannes Koder: Arethas of Kaisereia and the so-called Chronicle of Monembasia . In: Yearbook of Austrian Byzantine Studies 25, 1976, pp. 75–80.