Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos, Latinized as Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopulus ( el, Νικηφόρος Κάλλιστος Ξανθόπουλος), of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

(c. 1256 – c. 1335), was the last of the Greek ecclesiastical historians. His ''Historia Ecclesiastica'', in eighteen books, starts the historical narrative down to 610. For the first four centuries the author is largely dependent on his predecessors,

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Chris ...

, Socrates Scholasticus, Sozomen, Theodoret and Evagrius, his additions showing very little critical faculty. His later work, which is based upon documents now no longer extant, is much more valuable. A table of contents of another five books, continuing the history to the death of Leo VI the Wise in 911, also exists, but whether the books were ever actually written is doubtful. Some modern scholars are of opinion that Nicephorus appropriated and passed off as his own the work of an unknown author of the 10th century. The plan of the work is good and, in spite of its fables and superstitious absurdities, contains important facts which would otherwise have been unknown. Only one manuscript of the history is known. It was stolen by a Turkish soldier from the library at Buda during the reign of

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several m ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

and taken to Constantinople, where it was bought by a Christian and eventually reached the imperial library at

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

.For this history and events leading up to the first modern editions of the book, see Franco Mormando, "Nicephorus and the Battle of the Books Between Catholics and Protestants" in his essay, "Pestilence, Apostasy and Heresy in Seventeenth-Century Rome," in ''Piety and Plague: From Byzantium to the Baroque,'' ed. F. Mormando and T. Worcester, Kirksville: Truman State University Press, 2007, pp. 265–71. Nicephorus was also the author of lists of the emperors and patriarchs of Constantinople, of a poem on the capture of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, and of a synopsis of the Scriptures, all in iambics; and of commentaries on liturgical poems. He also wrote many of the

synaxaria Synaxarion or Synexarion (plurals Synaxaria, Synexaria; el, Συναξάριον, from συνάγειν, ''synagein'', "to bring together"; cf. etymology of ''synaxis'' and ''synagogue''; Latin: ''Synaxarium'', ''Synexarium''; cop, ⲥⲩⲛⲁ ...

in use in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

Notes

References

*Migne, ''Patrologia Graeca'' vols. 145-147 - Greek text and Latin translation. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Xanthopoulos, Nikephoros Kallistos 14th-century Byzantine historians 13th-century Byzantine historians 14th-century Eastern Orthodox Christians History of Christianity texts Writers from Constantinople