Leontios Machairas or Makhairas (

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 ...

: Λεόντιος Μαχαιράς, French: Léonce Machéras; about 1380 - after 1432) was a

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

in medieval

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 ...

. The main source of information on him is his chronicle, written in the medieval Cypriot dialect, titled ''Ἐξήγησις τῆς γλυκείας χώρας Κύπρου'' ''ἡ ποία λέγεται Κρόνακα, τοὐτέστιν Χρονικόν'' (Chronicle of the sweet land of Cyprus). The chronicle documents events from the visit of

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until the times of the

Kingdom 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 Christian kingdom, it was established by the French House of Lusignan after the Third Crusade. I ...

. Machairas was Orthodox Christian but wrote with respect for the pope and the Catholic ruling class of Cyprus for whom he was working. At the same time he showed his hatred towards the Venetians and the Genoese. He is the only source on the "Re Alexis" rebellion of Cypriot serfs, which he condemned. Following the usual Byzantine practice, he only used the word "''

basileus ''Basileus'' () is a Greek term and title that has signified various types of monarchs throughout history. In the English language, English-speaking world, it is perhaps most widely understood to mean , referring to either a or an . The title ...

''" (Greek for sovereign) for the

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at Constantinople, and referred to the king of Cyprus as "''regas''" (from Latin ''rex'' king). Machairas was also present at the Battle of Choirokoitia. The text as we have it became abbreviated after 1432, and historians believe the remainder of the text is a subsequent accretion. There are manuscripts of the ''Chronicle'' at the

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, the

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, and

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. The Oxford manuscript was copied in

Paphos Paphos, also spelled as Pafos, is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: #Old Paphos, Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and #New Paphos, New Paphos. It i ...

in June 1555, according to an additional paragraph after the end of the chronicle. The chronicle was published by Konstantinos Sathas as part of his ''Medieval Library'' in Venice in 1873. The chronicles of Cyprus by Amadi and Diomede Strambaldi published by Rene de Mas Latrie in

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in 1891 were translations of Machairas's chronicle into Italian. The chronicle was published again by Richard M. Dawkins with an English translation as "Recital Concerning the Sweet Land of Cyprus Entitled 'Chronicle' - The chronicle of Makhairas" in Oxford in 1932. The Ravenna manuscript has not yet been incorporated into a critical edition.

Manuscripts

Three manuscripts of the Chronicle survive: * Venice:

. Gr. VII, 16, 1080 * Oxford:

. Selden, Supra 14 (dated 1555) * Ravenna: Biblioteca Classense, cod. gr. 187, fol. 1-184 (late 16th century)

Publication history

* Σάθας, K. (1873)
''Μεσαιωνική Βιβλιοθήκη Τόμος Β΄. Χρονογράφοι Βασιλείου Κύπρου''
Εν Βενετία: Τύποις του Χρόνου. * Miller. E & Sathas. K. (1881). ''Λεοντίου Μαχαιρά Χρονικόν Κύπρου''. Chronique de Chypre. Publications de l’Ecole des langues orientales vivantes. Paris. * Miller. E & Sathas. K. (1882). '' Chronique de Chypre par Léonce Machéras''. Paris: Ernest Leroux. * Dawkins, R. M. (1932). ''Recital Concerning the Sweet Land of Cyprus Entitled 'Chronicle' - The chronicle of Makhairas''. Oxford. * Παυλίδης, Α. (1982). ''Λεοντίου Μαχαιρά Χρονικόν''. Λευκωσία: Φιλόκυπρος. 2nd ed. 1995, 3rd ed. 2010. * Πιερής, M. & Νικολάου-Κονναρή, A. (2003). ''Χρονικό της Κύπρου: Παράλληλη Διπλωματική Έκδοση των Χειρογράφων''. Λευκωσία: Κέντρο Επιστημονικών Ερευνών.

References

External links

Text (Nick Nicholas)

Text (Univ. of Athens) {{DEFAULTSORT:Machairas, Leontios 15th-century Greek people 15th-century writers Year of death unknown Cypriot non-fiction writers Cypriot historians Eastern Orthodox Christians from Cyprus People from the Kingdom of Cyprus Bodleian Library collection Year of birth uncertain 15th-century Cypriot people

Manuscripts

Publication history

See also

References

External links