ABSTRACT
George Sphrantzes, diplomat and minister, and if we are to believe his own comments an intimate friend and confidant of the last Greek emperor of Constantinople, Constantine XI Dragas ˚Palaiologos, is a well-known historian, who produced his valuable Memoirs in the form of an annalistic composition, which is usually assigned the Greco-Latin title of Chronicon Minus.1 Very little can be gathered about Sphrantzes’ life beyond what he himself chose to incorporate into his work. Sphrantzes is not mentioned in any contemporary texts, with one notable exception that will be discussed presently. In spite of his important position in the courts of the despotate of the Morea and Constantinople, Sphrantzes’ life remains obscure outside his own narrative. Even the actual form of his name has been the subject of a lively scholarly debate in recent times.2 In the past three centuries, his name was commonly cited as “Phrantzes” or as “Phran(t)za” in its latinized form. During the last decades of the twentieth century, however, scholars began to
1 M. Philippides, “The Name Sphrantzes in Ubertino Pusculo,” jOnovmata: Revue Onomastique 13 (1989/1990): 208-211. On Sphrantzes, in general, cf. V. Grecu, “Das Memoirenwerk des Georgios Sphrantzes,” in Actes du XIIIe Congrès international des études byzantines (Ohrid, 1961), pp. 327341. For the printed redactions of the Minus and Maius, cf. V. Grecu, ed. and trans., Georgios Sphrantzes, Memorii 1401-1477. In anexa±Pseudo-Phrantzes: Macarie Melissenos Cronica, 12581481, Scriptores Byzantini 5 (Bucharest, 1966); the Minus of M. Philippides, trans., The Fall of the Byzantine Empire. A Chronicle by George Sphrantzes 1401-1477 (Amherst, 1980); and of R. Maisano, ed. and trans. into Italian, Georgii Sphrantzae Chronicon, CFHB 29 (Rome, 1990). Other notable editions include the Minus of A. Mai, ed., Classici Auctores (Rome, 1837), and repr. in PG 156: cols. 1025-1080; the Maius of I. Bekker, ed., Georgios Phrantzes, Ioannes Cananus, Ioannes Anagnostes, CSHB (Bonn, 1838), with Latin translation, then repr. in PG 156: cols. 637-1022. The first two books of the Maius were edited in a critical edition by J. B. Papadopoulos, Georgiii Phrantzae Chronicon, Bibliotheca Teubneriana (Leipzig, 1935). Another English translation, but limited to the chapters describing the immediate events concerning the siege and fall in 1453 from the Maius, was translated by Margaret Carroll, A Contemporary Greek Source for the Siege of Constantinople 1453: The Sphrantzes Chronicle (Amsterdam, 1985). 2 Cf., among others, V. Laurent, “Sfrantzh`ı et non Frantzh`ı,” BZ 44 [= Festschrift F. Dölger (1951)]: 373-378; idem, “Sphrantzès et non Phrantzès. A nouveau!,” REB 9 (1951): 170-171; P. S. Nasturel, “Témoignages roumains sur les formes Sphrantzès et Phrantzès,” REB 19 [= Mélanges R. Suvmmeikta 6 (1985): 251-314.
