George Kedrenos, Cedrenus or Cedrinos ( el, Γεώργιος Κεδρηνός, fl. 11th century) was a
Byzantine Greek
Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman c ...
historian. In the 1050s he compiled ''Synopsis historion'' (also known as ''A concise history of the world''), which spanned the time from the
biblical
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of ...
account of creation to his own day. Kedrenos is one of the few sources that discuss
Khazar polities in existence after the sack of
Atil
Atil (also Itil) , was the capital of the Khazar Khaganate from the middle of the 8th century until the end of the 10th century.
Known to have been situated on the Silk Road in the vicinity of the Caspian Sea, its precise location has long bee ...
in 969 (see
Georgius Tzul).
Material in ''Synopsis historion'' mostly comes from the works by
Pseudo-Symeon Magistros (a version of
Logothete's
chronicle
A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and ...
),
George Syncellus
George Syncellus ( el, Γεώργιος Σύγκελλος, ''Georgios Synkellos''; died after 810) was a Byzantine chronicler and ecclesiastic. He had lived many years in Palestine (probably in the Old Lavra of Saint Chariton or Souka, near Tekoa ...
,
Theophanes the Confessor
Theophanes the Confessor ( el, Θεοφάνης Ὁμολογητής; c. 758/760 – 12 March 817/818) was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy who became a monk and chronicler. He served in the court of Emperor Leo IV the Khazar before taking ...
, and, starting from 811, almost exclusively and word-for-word from the chronicle by
John Skylitzes
John Skylitzes, commonly Latinized as Ioannes, la, Johannes, label=none, la, Iōannēs, label=none Scylitzes ( el, Ἰωάννης Σκυλίτζης, ''Iōánnēs Skylítzēs'', or el, Σκυλίτση, ''Skylítsē'', label=none ; la, ...
.
[Howard-Johnston 2012, pp. 8–9]
One late manuscript of ''Synopsis historion'' preserves a poem (anonymous but thought to be by Kedrenos) that derives his family name from the place where he was born, a small village of Cedrus (or Cedrea) in the
Anatolic Theme.
[Treadgold 2013, pp. 339–342][de Boor 1905, p. 426] The poem also identifies him as a
proedrus, a senior court official.
Before becoming a proedros, Kedrenos may have held the somewhat lower rank of
vestarches.
Vestarches Georgios Kedrenos is in fact known from a number of 11th12th-century
seals
Seals may refer to:
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...
found mostly in the
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
region, but also in
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...
.
[Georgios 20202]
Boulloterion 4024
in Prosopography of the Byzantine World (consulted 27 February 2017) Furthermore, several roughly contemporary seals refer to another court official, a certain "John Cedrenus,
protocuropalates and
duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are r ...
" who may have been a relative, perhaps, a brother or a cousin.
Boulloterion 5397
Boulloterion 5398
in Prosopography of the Byzantine World (consulted 27 February 2017)
Notes
References
*
*
* James Howard-Johnston, "The Chronicle and Other Forms of Historical Writing in Byzantium", in: ''The Medieval Chronicle X'', Brill (2016), pp. 1–22
google books preview
*
google books preview
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External links
* ttps://books.google.com/books?id=WM0GAAAAQAAJ 1838 Bekker edition(as ''Georgius Cedrenus'')
11th-century Byzantine historians
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
Vestarchai
{{Byzantine-bio-stub