Georgios Acropolites

Georgios Akropolites ( Middle Greek Γεώργιος Ακροπολίτης ; * 1217 in Constantinople ; † 1282 ibid) was a Byzantine diplomat , high government official, philosopher and historian .

Life

Georgios Akropolites was born in 1233 by his father, the logothete Konstantin Akropolites the Elder, for training at the court of Emperor John III. Dukas Batatzes sent to Nicaea . Akropolites was tutored by Theodor Hexapterygos and Nikephoros Blemmydes . In 1240 he met Theodor , the emperor's son, whose tutor he later became. In 1246 Georgios Akropolites received the court office of Logothétes toû genikoû . Emperor Theodor II. Laskaris appointed Akropolites Grand Logothetes (Chancellor of the Byzantine Empire). In 1256 Akropolites became praetor for the western part of the empire. In 1257 he received the order against Michael II Angelus to field the Archon of Epirus . At Prilep he was trapped by Michael's soldiers and spent two years in captivity. Meanwhile, Emperor Theodor died, Michael VIII. Palaiologos ascended the throne and freed Georgios Akropolites in the autumn of 1259. Akropolites was envoy to the court of the Bulgarian King Constantine , was dismissed from civil service and retired into private life.

In 1261 he witnessed the reconquest of Constantinople and the official entry of Emperor Michael himself. He was again entrusted with important negotiations. Emperor Michael VIII had proposed the reunification of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches to Pope Clement IV for fear of a new Latin invasion . Negotiations followed during the reign of five popes, Clement IV, Gregory X , John XXI. , Nicholas III. and Martin IV. The preliminary successful end of the negotiations was achieved almost exclusively through the diplomatic skills of the Acropolis. He was sent to Pope Gregory X again in 1273, and in 1274, at the Second Council of Lyon , confirmed by an oath in the name of the Emperor that the Creed, which had previously been sent to Constantinople by the Pope, had been accepted by the Byzantines . However, the reunification of the two churches did not last.

Akropolites remained Groß-Logothet and worked as a teacher of philosophy in Constantinople, where he wrote his chronicle. In 1282 he was sent to Bulgaria again for negotiations. He died shortly after his return in 1282.

Works

The main work of Georgios Akropolites is his Chronikè Syngraphé , in which he describes the events of the years 1203 to 1261 (including the restoration of Byzantine rule in Constantinople in 1261) and which he most likely wrote between 1261 and 1267.

Editions and translations

• Peter Wirth (Ed.): The Chronicle , trans. v. W. Blum. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 978-3-7772-8928-1
• George Acropolites. The History . Translated by Ruth Macrides. Oxford 2007

literature

• Georgi Kapriev: Georgios Akropolites. In: Laurent Cesalli, Gerald Hartung (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of the Middle Ages. Volume 1: Byzantium, Judaism. Schwabe, Basel 2019, ISBN 978-3-7965-2623-7 , pp. 98 f., 264
• Johannes Karayannopulos; Günter Weiß: Source studies on the history of Byzantium (324 - 1453) , Wiesbaden 1982, ISBN 3-447-02244-2 , p. 461 f.
• Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization , Vol. 1: Aaron - Azarethes. Brepols, Turnhout 2007, ISBN 978-2-503-52303-3 , pp 116-117.