Sempad the Constable

Smbat Sparapet or Sempat Sparapeţ (* 1208, † 1276) was a medieval Armenian chronicler and constables of Lesser Armenia.

He was a brother of the king Hethum I of Lesser Armenia, son of Henry I of Cyprus and as a constable at the court of King Leon II Smbats most important achievement was -. Alongside the guided Chronicle - probably the approximation of the Armenian legislation to that of Latin Crusader States, especially on that of Antioch.

Life

Smbat was born claims to 1208. He was brought by King Leo, who was always keen scholar and experienced men to gather in matters of war at his court, and finally appointed constable.

Smbat mastered both Greek and the Norman French of the Crusaders. He was well educated and had its own library (which is now in the Matenadaran ) contained, among other things, a Bible and works by Aristotle, Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Cyril of Alexandria.

1246 drew Smbat together with King Leo in Tarsus, and in 1250 he led a delegation to the Mongols ( " Tatars "). This mission is also evidenced by a letter from Henry I of Cyprus.

Smbat had two sons, Hethum ( Hayton ) and Vasil ( basileus ), who both died in quick succession in 1269.

Chronicle

The written by him Chronicle covers the years from 951-1162 AD. It was continued by an anonymous author until 1331.

Sources Smbat used mainly Matthias of Edessa and the continuation by the priest Gregory. For contemporary events natural to him the documents of the royal chancery were available.

The Chronicle was narrated by:

• Two manuscripts in Echmiadzin and several copies of the 19th century
• Incomplete manuscript from Istanbul, probably from the late 13th century, now in San Lazarro, Italy. The beginning is missing, as well as the author's name is not known, and some authors, such as L. Alischan see it as the original work of another author.

Other works

Sempat translated the Assizes of Antioch, giving it Simon Mansel had made ​​available, from French into Armenian. Smbats translation was checked at his request in Antioch for accuracy. Apparently it was used by small Armenian courts to jurisdiction. 1265 revised Smbat the Code, which was drafted in 1184 by Mkhit ʾ ar Gosch in Armenia and translated an abridged version in a more contemporary language ( mittelarmenisch ). It is next to the "rules" of the davit, son of Alavik the main source for Armenian legislation.

Smbat also wrote a summary of the Dialectica of John of Damascus.

Expenditure

An Armenian edition of the Chronicle was published in 1856 by Osgan from Yerevan to Moscow, published a further 1859 G. Chahnazarian in Paris. Serope Akelian undertook in 1956 a further Text Edition ( Smpada Sbarabedi Dare Kirk), which appeared in Venice, and is based on the Istanbul manuscript. Lacunae were replaced by the translation of Langlois and excerpts from Matthias von Edessa.

The influential translation into French by V. Langlois (1862 ) is not complete. A French translation of part of the chronicle is in E. Dulauriers " Recueil des historiens de Croisades " (Paris 1869) included. Sirarpie The Nesessian presented an English translation.