Laonicus Chalcocondyles

Chalcocondyles, Laonicus

 

Born circa 1423 or circa 1430 in Athens; died circa 1490 on the island of Crete (?). Byzantine historian. From an aristocratic family.

Chalcocondyles lived in Mistra in the 1440’s and studied under Gemisthus George Plethon. In his Historiarum demonstra-tiones (ten books), he described events between 1298 and 1463; he provided an especially detailed account of the fall of Byzantium and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. His works contain much useful information on the peoples of southern and eastern Europe.

WORKS

Laonici Chalcocandylae historiarum demonstrationes, vols. 1–2. Budapest, 1922–27.

REFERENCES

Veselago, E. B. “K voprosu ob obshchestvenno-politicheskikh vzgliadakh i mirovozzrenii vizantiiskogo istorika XV v. Laonika Khalkokondila.” Vestnik MGU: Istoricheskie nauki, 1960, no. 1.
Ditten, G. “Izvestiia Laonika Khalkokondila o Rossii.” In the collection Vizantiiskii vremennik, vol. 21. Moscow, 1962.