Nikephorus I (Patriarch)

Nikephorus I (* probably 757/58; † 828 ) was a Byzantine historian and patriarch of Constantinople .

Life

Nikephorus was the son of an imperial secretary named Theodoros. He himself later held the same post (testifies to 787). Sometime after 787, probably 797, he withdrew (perhaps by force) into private life and then also worked as a charity. In 806 he was elected a lay patriarch and was ordained bishop within a few days; it is quite likely that Nikephoros was a compromise candidate. During the so-called Moichian dispute , which was caused by the second marriage of Emperor Constantine VI. had been triggered, he supported Emperor Nicephorus I and rehabilitated Oikonomos Iosephos , who was involved in it. Protested in vain Theodore Studite , but the so-called were Studites condemned by a synod. When Theodoros was pardoned by the new Emperor Michael I in 811/12 and became his adviser, Theodoros was in opposition to Nikephoros. As a proponent of the veneration of images, Nikephoros opposed Emperor Leon V in 814 when he was pursuing a policy that was hostile to images (see Byzantine image dispute ). However, the emperor enforced his dismissal through a synod and Nikephorus finally resigned in March 815. He died in 828 as an exile in a monastery.

The vita written by Ignatios Diakonos offers a relatively detailed, but in part incomplete and topical report on his life.

Works

Nikephoros wrote several works, including polemical writings against the opponents of image worship (iconoclasts). Likewise, Nikephoros wrote pamphlets against Jews and Manicheans as well as letters and homilies, all of which (except for a few fragments of the letters) have been lost. Some works are also wrongly ascribed to him. Most of all, a historical chronicle has been preserved.

The Chronicle of Nikephoros is usually referred to as Historia syntomos ("brief history") or Latinized as Breviarium . The period from 602 (this year the histories of Theophylactus Simokates also break off) to 769 is briefly described, although there are some gaps in the presentation. The period 641–663 and 733–741 are not described. This is probably due to a lack of sources; but a blade failure is also possible. A comparison with the (generally more detailed) Chronicle of Theophanes , who, in contrast to Nikephorus, proceeded in a strictly annalistic manner, has shown that both often resorted to the same templates. Both Nikephoros and Theophanes very likely used the Chronicle of Traianos Patrikios , but Theophanes did use sources to which Nikephoros had no access. This probably includes a Greek translation of the Chronicle of Theophilos of Edessa , so that Theophanes could fill existing gaps better than Nikephorus. However, it is often unclear which sources Nikephoros used; but John of Antioch can be identified with certainty (for c. 1 of the Chronicle). For the first part of the chronicle, a city chronicle of Constantinople seems to have been the main source, for the second part it is mainly Traianos and another city chronicle.

Only rarely does Nikephoros offer other information than Theophanes in his historical work; Nikephoros often seems to have reproduced his models more succinctly, but sometimes more precisely than Theophanes, so that his presentation can also serve to control or supplement the chronicle of Theophanes. In literary terms, the history of Nikephoros, which was written either in the 1980s or 1990s, is not very demanding. It has survived in two editions (V [Vatican manuscript] and L [London manuscript]).

Editions and translations

• Cyril Mango (Ed.): Nikephoros, Patriarch of Constantinople. Short history . Washington 1990 (edition of the history with English translation, introduction and a brief commentary).

literature

• James Howard-Johnston : Witnesses to a World Crisis. Historians and Histories of the Middle East in the Seventh Century. Oxford University Press, Oxford et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-19-920859-3 , pp. 237ff.
• Paul Speck: The shared dossier. Observations on the news of the reign of Emperor Herakleios and that of his sons with Theophanes and Nikephorus. Habelt, Bonn 1988, ISBN 3-7749-2362-0 ( Poikila Byzantina 9).
• Herbert Hunger : The high-level profane literature of the Byzantines. Volume 1: Philosophy, Rhetoric, Epistolography, Historiography, Geography. Beck, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-406-01427-5 , p. 344ff. ( Handbook of Classical Studies . Dept. 12: Byzantine Handbook. 5).
• Dragoljub Marjanovic: Creating Memories in Late 8th-Century Byzantium. The Short History of Nikephoros of Constantinople. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam 2018.
• Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period (PmbZ). First division Prolegomena . Berlin 1998, p. 15f. (to the chronicle); Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine period. Vol. 3. Berlin 2000, p. 376ff. (to person).
• Warren Treadgold : The Middle Byzantine Historians . Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 2013, pp. 26ff.

Remarks

1. ↑ For details see Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period . Vol. 3. Berlin 2000, p. 376ff.
2. ^ Leslie Brubaker: Inventing Byzantine Iconoclasm . London 2012.
3. ↑ Review by Paul Speck: Nikephoros, Patriarch of Constantinople: Short History . In: Byzantinische Zeitschrift 83, 1990, pp. 471–478, here p. 472.
4. ↑ See Mango (1990), p. 12ff.
5. ↑ For details on this Mango (1990), p. 5ff and 19ff.

predecessor	Office	successor
Tarasios	Patriarch of Constantinople 806–815	Theodotos I.