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George Sphrantzes

Type Figure Region Byzantine Empire Time 1401–1478 Also known as George Sphrantzes、Sphrantzes、斯弗兰齐斯

A late-Byzantine court official and historian born in Constantinople, he served John VIII and Constantine XI, attended the Council of Florence, and w…

Timeline

  1. 1430–1448Constantinople · ConstantinopleHe held high court office under John VIII and accompanied the emperor to Italy for the Council of Florence in 1438–1439, witnessing the union negotiations firsthand and taking part in several diplomatic missions to the West.
  2. 1449–1453Constantinople · ConstantinopleAfter Constantine XI's accession he continued as an intimate courtier, was sent West to seek aid, was captured when the city fell, later made his way to the Morea, and in his old age wrote the Chronicon Minus recounting the empire's final days.
  3. 1453–1478Mistra · PeloponneseLiving in the Morea under Ottoman rule, he wrote the Chronicon Minus from an eyewitness perspective, detailing the lives and diplomacy of the last Palaiologan emperors and the fall of the city in 1453, making it a core source for the study of late Byzantium.

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