George Sphrantzes
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George Sphrantzes (also Phrantzes or Phrantza) (1401-c. 1478), was a late Byzantine historian. He was born in Constantinople. At an early age he became secretary to Manuel II Palaeologus; in 1432 protovestiarius (great chamberlain); in 1446 prefect of Sparta, and subsequently great logothete (chancellor). At the capture of Constantinople by the Turks (1453) he fell into their hands, but managed to escape to Peloponnesus, where he obtained protection at the court of Thomas Palaeologus, despot of Achaea. After the downfall of the Peloponnesian princes (1460) Phrantza retired to the monastery of Tarchaniotes in Corfu. Here he wrote his Chronicle, containing the history of the House of the Palaeologi from 1258-1476. It is a most valuable authority for the events of his own times.
Editions by I. Bekker (1838) in the Corpus scriptorum hist. byz., and in J. P. Migne, Patrologia graeca, civi; see also C. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur (1897).
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- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
