Georgios Boustronios (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Τζώρτζης Μπουστρούς, hellenised as Γεώργιος Βουστρώνιος; c. 1435/40 - after 1501) was a 15th century Cypriot royal official and

chronicle A chronicle (, 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 local events ...

r possibly of Syrian origin. His chronicle Διήγησις Kρόνικας Kύπρου (''Diegesis Kronikas Kyprou,'' Narrative of the Chronicle of Cyprus) was written in prose in

Cypriot Greek Cypriot Greek (, or ) is the variety of Modern Greek that is spoken by the majority of the Cypriot populace and Greek Cypriot diaspora. It is considered a divergent dialect as it differs from Standard Modern Greek in various aspects of its ...

. He was a close friend and serviceman of James II, the

King of Cyprus The Kingdom of Cyprus (; ) was a medieval kingdom of the Crusader states that existed between 1192 and 1489. Initially ruled as an Independent state, independent Christian state, Christian kingdom, it was established by the French House of Lusi ...

. His chronicle documents events contemporary to his life, especially the transition from the

Lusignan The House of Lusignan ( ; ) was a royal house of French origin, which at various times ruled several principalities in Europe and the Levant, including the kingdoms of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Armenia, from the 12th through the 15th centuries du ...

to the Venetian rule in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. His narrative starts where the chronicle of Leontios Machairas ends, at 1456, and concludes at 1489, the year when

Catherine Cornaro Catherine Cornaro (; or ; ; 25 November 1454 – 10 July 1510) was the last monarch of the Kingdom of Cyprus, also holding the titles of Queen of Jerusalem and Queen of Armenia. She became queen consort of Cyprus by marriage to James II of ...

, the last queen of Cyprus, ceded the island to the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

. He documented the civil war between Charlotte and her half brother James II, between 1440 and 1444, and the interventions by Hospitallers and

Mamluks Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-sold ...

in the politics of the island. He was a relative of Florio Bustron, a notary and the author of another chronicle on Cypriot history, titled ''Chronique de l'île de Chypre'', that begins with antiquity and also ends in 1489. The chronicle survives in three manuscripts; two are located in the

Biblioteca Marciana The Marciana Library or Library of Saint Mark (, but in historical documents commonly referred to as the ) is a public library in Venice, Italy. It is one of the earliest surviving public libraries and repositories for manuscripts in Italy and ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

and the other one is part of the Arundel Manuscripts located in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, with the Arundel Manuscript considered to be the oldest. The chronicle was first published, based on the two Marcian manuscripts, by Konstantinos Sathas as part of his ''Medieval Library II'' (pages 413-543) in Venice in 1873. The chronicle was published again, this time based on all three manuscripts, by Richard M. Dawkins with an English translation as ''The Chronicle of George Boustronios, 1456-1489'' in Melbourne in 1964. In 1997 published another critical edition in the original Greek, titled ''Τζώρτζης (Μ)πουστρούς (Γεώργιος Βο(σ)τρ(υ)ηνός ή Βουστρώνιος, Διήγησις Κρόνικας Κύπρου.'' Α more recent publication and English translation was done by Nicholas Coureas in 2006, titled ''A Narrative of the Chronicle of Cyprus, 1456–1489''.

Manuscripts

* Venice:

* London:

, Arundel Manuscripts
Arundel MS 518
(16th century)

Publications

Διήγησις Kρονίκας Kύπρου
Publication by Konstantinos Sathas in his ''Medieval Library II'', Vienna, 1873. *Dawkins, R. M. ''The Chronicle of George Boustronios 1456 - 1489'', Public. No 2, Univ. of Melbourne Cyprus Expedition, 1964. *Coureas, N. ''A Narrative of the Chronicle of Cyprus, 1456–1489'', 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boustronios, Georgios Chroniclers 15th-century writers Cypriot non-fiction writers Cypriot historians Eastern Orthodox Christians from Cyprus People from the Kingdom of Cyprus 15th-century births 16th-century deaths 15th-century Greek writers 15th-century Cypriot people Cypriot people of Syrian descent

Manuscripts

Publications

See also

References