George Kedrenos, Cedrenus or Cedrinos (, fl. 11th century) was a

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) 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 F ...

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 is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

account of creation to his own day. Kedrenos is one of the few sources that discuss

Khazar The Khazars ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a nomadic Turkic people who, in the late 6th century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, an ...

polities in existence after the sack of

Atil Atil, also Itil, was the capital of the Khazar Khaganate from the mid-8th century to the late 10th century. It is known historically to have been situated along the Silk Road, on the northern coast of the Caspian Sea, in the Volga Delta region of ...

in 969 (see

Georgius Tzul Georgius Tzul (also ''Georgios''; ) was a Khazar warlord against whom the Byzantine Empire and Mstislav of Tmutarakan launched a joint expedition in 1016. He appears only in the account of the Byzantine court historians Kedrenos and John Skyl ...

). Material in ''Synopsis historion'' mostly comes from the works by Pseudo-Symeon Magistros (a version of Logothete's

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 ...

George Syncellus George Syncellus (, ''Georgios Synkellos''; died after 810) was a Byzantine chronicler and ecclesiastical official. He lived many years in Palestine (probably in the Old Lavra of Saint Chariton or Souka, near Tekoa) as a monk, before coming to Cons ...

, Theophanes the Confessor, and, starting from 811, almost exclusively and word-for-word from the chronicle by John Skylitzes.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. 339–342de 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 found mostly in the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

region, but also in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

.Georgios 20202

Boulloterion 4024
, in

Prosopography of the Byzantine World The Prosopography of the Byzantine World (PBW) is a project to create a prosopographical database of individuals named in textual sources in the Byzantine Empire and surrounding areas in the period from 642 to 1265. The project is a collaboration ...

(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 Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

" who may have been a relative, perhaps, a brother or a cousin.Ioannes 20693

Boulloterion 5397

Boulloterion 5398
in

(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 Brill may refer to: Places * Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands * Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England * Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK * Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...

(2016), pp. 1–22
google books preview
*
google books preview
*

External links

* ttps://greekdownloads3.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/compendium-historiaru1a.pdf Full Greek text

University of the Aegean The University of the Aegean (UA; ) is a public, multi-campus university located in Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Rhodes, Syros and Lemnos, Greece. It was founded on March 20, 1984, by the Presidential Act 83/1984 and its administrative headquarters ar ...

Full Greek text
Catholic Library Project
Volume 1, 1838 Bekker editionVolume 2, 1839 Bekker edition
11th-century Byzantine historians Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Vestarchai {{Byzantine-bio-stub