John Kinnamos

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Joannes Kinnamos or John Cinnamus (Greek: Ἰωάννης Κίνναμος or Κίναμος or Σίνναμος; fl. 12th century) was a Greek historian. He was imperial secretary (Greek "grammatikos", most likely a post connected with the military administration) to Emperor Manuel I (1143–1180), whom he accompanied on his campaigns in Europe and Asia Minor. It appears that Kinnamos outlived Andronikos I, who died in 1185.

Kinnamos was the author of a history^[1] that covered the years 1118-1176, thereby continuing the Alexiad of Anna Komnene, and covering the reigns of John II and Manuel I, up until Manuel's unsuccessful campaign against the Turks, which ended with the disastrous Battle of Myriokephalon and the rout of the Imperial army. He was probably an eye-witness to the events of the last ten years that he describes.

Kinnamos's work breaks off abruptly, though it is highly likely that the original continued to the death of Manuel. There are also indications that the present work is an abridgment of a much larger work. The hero of the history is Manuel, and throughout the history Kinnamos attempts to highlight what he sees as the superiority of the Eastern Empire to the West. Similarly, he is a determined opponent of what he perceives as the pretensions of the papacy. Nevertheless, he writes with the straightforwardness of a soldier, and occasionally admits his ignorance of certain events. The work is well organized arranged, and its style, modeled on Xenophon, is simple, especially when compared with the florid writing of other Greek authors of the period. William Plate considers him the best of the European historians of this period.^[2]

John Kinnamos is also credited for writing a book on one of the Angeli emperors, however this book is believed to be lost (perhaps together with the rest of his much larger work).

The first reference of his writings can be found in the catalogue known as Vaticanus graecus, it is described as :"Historie cuis(us)dam Manasse vulgari versu.|Item choniati i(n) satis bono stilo a t(em)po(r)ib(us) Io. Comnei"

References

↑ Ἐπιτομὴ τῶν κατορθωμάτων τῷ μακαρίτῃ βασιλεῖ καὶ πορφυρογεννήτῳ κυρίῳ Ἰωάννῃ τῷ Κομνηνῷ, καὶ ἀφήγησις τῶν πραχθέντων τῷ ἀοιδίμᾳ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ πορφυρογεννήτῳ κυρίῳ Μανουὴλ τῷ Κομνηνῷ ποιηθεῖσα Ἰωάννῃ βασιλικῷ γραμματικῷ Κιννάμῳ, or Summary of the feats of the late emperor and purple-born lord John Komnenos and narration of the deeds of his celebrated son the emperor and purple-born lord Manuel I Komnenos done by John Kinnamos his imperial secretary. Editio princeps by Cornelius Tollius (Utrecht 1652).
↑ Smith, editor. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1867.

Sources

John Kinnamos, Rerum ab Ioannes et Alexio [sic] Comnenis Gestarum, ed. A. Meineke, Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae (Bonn, 1836)
John Kinnamos, The Deeds of John and Manuel Comnenus, trans. C.M. Brand (New York, 1976). ISBN 0-231-04080-6

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press
Jonathan Harris, Byzantium and the Crusades (Hambledon and London, 2003). ISBN 1-85285-298-4
J. Ljubarskij, ‘John Kinnamos as a writer’, in Polypleuros Nous: Miscellanea für Peter Schreiner zu seinem 60 Geburtstag (Byzantinisches Archiv, 19), ed. C. Scholz and G. Makris (Munich, 2000), pp. 164–73
Paul Magdalino, 'Aspects of twelfth century Byzantine Kaiserkritik', Speculum 58 (1983), 326-46 and reprinted in Paul Magdalino, Tradition and Transformation in Medieval Byzantium (Ashgate publishing, 1991), No. VIII
Paul Stephenson, 'John Cinnamus, John II Comnenus and the Hungarian campaign of 1127-1129', Byzantion 66 (1996), 177-87

v t e Byzantine historians

5th century	Malchus Priscus

6th century	Agathias Evagrius Scholasticus Hesychius of Miletus John of Ephesus John of Epiphania Jordanes John Malalas Marcellinus Comes Menander Protector Peter the Patrician Procopius Theophanes of Byzantium Zacharias Rhetor Zosimus

7th century	Trajan the Patrician Theophylact Simocatta John of Antioch

8th century	Hippolytus of Thebes

9th century	Theophanes the Confessor George Syncellus Nikephoros I of Constantinople George Hamartolos

10th century	Joseph Genesius John Kaminiates Leo the Deacon Constantine VII Theophanes Continuatus

11th century	Michael Attaleiates George Kedrenos Michael Psellos John Skylitzes John Xiphilinus Yahya of Antioch

12th century	Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger Niketas Choniates Eustathius of Thessalonica Anna Komnene John Kinnamos Constantine Manasses John Zonaras

13th century	George Akropolites Theodore Metochites

14th century	Nicephorus Gregoras Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos George Pachymeres Michael Panaretos

15th century	Michael Critobulus John Anagnostes Laonikos Chalkokondyles Doukas George Sphrantzes

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 24745505 LCCN: nr92038113 ISNI: 0000 0001 0880 0860 GND: 100948669 BNF: cb13207205w

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Name	Kinnamos, John
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