The Medieval Church · c. 950–961
The Continuation of Theophanes
Anonymous, commissioned by Constantine VII
What it is
History from 813 to the writer's own day, commissioned by an emperor about his own dynasty — so the iconoclast emperors are monsters, Michael III a drunk, and Basil I, who murdered his way to the throne, a providential deliverer.
Why it lasted
The main narrative source for two Byzantine centuries, and openly a work of dynastic propaganda, which makes it a case study in reading a chronicle against its commissioner. Constantine VII wrote part of it himself.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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