George Akropolites

Georgios Akropolites (medium Greek Γεώργιος Ακροπολίτης * 1217 in Constantinople Opel, † 1282 ) was a Byzantine diplomat, senior government official, philosopher and historian.

Life

Georgios Akropolites was in 1233 by his father, the Logothete Konstantin Akropolites the Elder, on education in the court of Emperor John III. Dukas Batatzes sent to Nicaea. Akropolites was taught by Theodor Hexapterygos and Nikephoros Blemmydes. He learned in 1240 Theodor, know the son of the emperor, whose tutor he was later. 1246 Georgios Akropolites received genikoû tou the court office of the Logothetes. Emperor Theodore II Laskaris appointed Akropolites to Großlogotheten ( Chancellor of the Byzantine Empire ). 1256 Akropolites praetor was for the western part of the empire. In 1257 he received the order to take the field against Michael II Angelos the Archon of Epirus. In Prilep he was trapped by the soldiers Michaels, and spent two years in captivity. Meanwhile, Emperor Theodore died, Michael VIII Palaeologus succeeded to the throne and freed Georgios Akropolites in the fall 1259th Akropolites was ambassador at the court of the Bulgarian King Constantine, was dismissed from the civil service and retired to private life.

He experienced the 1261 reconquest of Constantinople and the official entry of Emperor Michael himself with. He was entrusted again with important negotiations. Emperor Michael VIII had proposed for fear of a new Latin invasion Pope Clement IV, the reunification of the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Discussions took place during the reign of five popes, Clement IV, Gregory X, John XXI. , Nicholas III. , And Martin IV. Preliminary successful end of the negotiations was achieved almost exclusively by the diplomatic skills of Akropolites. It was built in 1273 sent again to Pope Gregory X, and confirmed in 1274, at the Second Council of Lyons, by an oath in the name of the Emperor, that the Creed, which had been sent by the Pope to Constantinople Opel, was adopted by the Byzantines. However, the reunification of the two churches did not last.

Akropolites remained wholesale logothete and worked as a teacher of philosophy in Constantinople, Opel, where he wrote his chronicle. 1282 Akropolites was again sent to negotiate to Bulgaria. Shortly after his return he died, during the year 1282nd

Works

The main work of Georgios Akropolites is his Chronikè Syngraphé, in which he described the events of the years 1203 to 1261 (including the restoration of Byzantine rule in Constantinople Opel 1261 ) describes and which he has written most likely 1261-1267.

• The Chronicle. Edited by Peter Wirth, Translator v. W. Blum. Publisher Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 978-3-7772-8928-1
• George Akropolites. The History. Translated by Ruth Macrides. Oxford 2007. ( See there for details about our secondary literature. )