George Kedrenos, Cedrenus or Cedrinos ( el|Γεώργιος Κεδρηνός, fl. 11th century) was a
Byzantine historian. In the 1050s he compiled ''Synopsis historion'' (also known as ''A concise history of the world''), which spanned the time from the
biblical account of creation to his own day. Kedrenos is one of the few sources that discuss
Khazar polities in existence after the sack of
Atil in 969 (see
Georgius Tzul).
Material in ''Synopsis historion'' mostly comes from the works by
Pseudo-Symeon Magistros (a version of
Logothete's
chronicle),
George Syncellus,
Theophanes the Confessor, and, starting from 811, almost exclusively and word-for-word from the chronicle by
John Skylitzes.
[Howard-Johnston 2012, pp. 8–9]
One late manuscript of ''Synopsis historion'' preserves a poem (anonymous but thought to be by Kedrenos) that derives his family name from the place where he was born, a small village of Cedrus (or Cedrea) in the
Anatolic Theme.
[Treadgold 2013, pp. 339–342][de Boor 1905, p. 426] The poem also identifies him as a
proedrus, a senior court official.
Before becoming a proedros, Kedrenos may have held the somewhat lower rank of
vestarches.
Vestarches Georgios Kedrenos is in fact known from a number of 11th12th-century
seals found mostly in the
Danube region, but also in
Crimea.
[Georgios 20202]
Boulloterion 4024
in Prosopography of the Byzantine World (consulted 27 February 2017) Furthermore, several roughly contemporary seals refer to another court official, a certain "John Cedrenus,
protocuropalates and
duke" who may have been a relative, perhaps, a brother or a cousin.
Boulloterion 5397
Boulloterion 5398
in Prosopography of the Byzantine World (consulted 27 February 2017)
Notes
References
*
*
* James Howard-Johnston, "The Chronicle and Other Forms of Historical Writing in Byzantium", in: ''The Medieval Chronicle X'', Brill (2016), pp. 1–22
google books preview
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External links
*ttps://books.google.com/books?id=WM0GAAAAQAAJ 1838 Bekker edition(as ''Georgius Cedrenus'')
Category:Byzantine historians
Category:11th-century historians
Category:11th-century Byzantine people
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:Year of death unknown
Category:Vestarchai
Category:11th-century Byzantine writers
{{Byzantine-bio-stub