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 HISTORY

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HISTORY

the "Chronicles" of Georgius Syncellus, George Hamartolus, Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, John Malalas, Proco- pius, Paulus Silentiarius, the works of Leo Diaconus, Anna Comnena, Zonaras, Georgius Cedrenus, to which we may add Nicetas Choniates, Georgius Pachymeres, Nicephorus Gregoras, and John Cantacuzenus. These Byzantine historical works were first published in a large collection at Paris (1645-1711) under the title, " Byzantinse historise Scriptores". A new edition, better and more complete, was executed by Niebuhr, Becker, Dindorf, and other collaborators in forty volumes (Bonn, 1828-78) under the title, "Corpus Scriptorum historiae Byzantina;". Most of these writings are also to be found in the Patrologia Grfpca of Migne. The only true church historian of the Byzantine period worthy of the name is Nicephorus Callistus, who flourished in the beginning of the four- teenth century. (See Nicephorus Callistus.)

In Syriac we possess the aforesaid chronicle of Dionysius of Telmera. Towards the end of the twelfth century Michael Kandis, Patriarch of the Jacobites (d. 1199), wrote a chronicle from the crea- tion to 1 196. It is an important source for the history of the Syriac Church after the sixth century, particu- larly for the liistory of the Crusades. This work has reached us in a tliirteenth century Armenian version; a French translation was published by Langlois, " Chronique de Michel le Grand " (Venice, 1868). An- other patriarch of the Jacobites, Gregory Abulphara- gius or Bar-Hebraeus (q. v.), Maphrian (i. e. primate) of the Syro-Jacobite Church (1266-86), also wrote a universal chronicle in three parts. We must also men- tion the " Bibliotheca " (Myriobiblon) of Photius (d. 891), in which about 280 authors are described and passages quoted from them (ed. Becker, Berlin, 1834), and the work "On Heresies" of St. John Damascene.

Throughout this period the West was furnishing abundant material for ecclesiastical history, but few genuinely historical works. Public life moved in narrow circles; a speculative tendency ruled in the centres of intellectual activity; consequently, ecclesias- tico-historical works of a general character accorded ill with the spirit of the age, and during the whole period from the eighth to the fifteenth century the West offers only a few works of this class. In the ninth century, Haymo, Bishop of Halberstadt (d. 853), undertook to write an ecclesiastical history of the first four centuries, taking Rufinus as his principal authority (" De christianarum rerum memoria ", ed. Boxhorii, Leyden, 1650; P. L., CXVI). Subsequently with the aid of Latin versions of Georgius Syncellus. Nicephorus, and especially of Theophanes, to which he added his own material, the Roman Abbot Anastasius Bibliothecarius (the Librarian) wrote a "Church His- tory " to the time of Leo the Armenian, who died in 829 (Migne, P. G., CVIII). About the middle of the twelfth century, Ordericus Vitalis, Abbot of St. Evroul in Normandy, wrote an " Historia ecclesiastica" in thirteen books; it reaches to 1 142, and is of especial value for the history of Normandy, England, and the Crusades (ed. A. Le Prevost, 5 vols., Paris, 1838-55). The Dominican Bartholomew of Lucca, called also Ptolemieus de Fiadonibus (d. 1327), covered a longer period. His work in twenty-four books reaches to 1313, and was continued to 1361 by Henry of Diessen- hofen (ed. Muratori, "Scriptores Rerum Italicarum", XI). The " Flores chronicorum seu Catalogus Pontifi- cum Romanorum" of Bernard Guidonis, Bishop of Lodeve (d. 1331), may be counted among the works on the general history of the Church (partially edited by Mai, "Spicilegium Romanum", VI; Muratori, op. cit., Ill; Bouquet, "Script, rer. gall.", XXI). The most extensive, and relatively the best, historical work during this period is the " Summa Historialis " of St. Antoninus. It deals with profane and ecclesi- astical history from the creation to 1457.

The national histories which appeared towards the end of the last period (of Cassiodorus, Jordanis, Greg- ory of Tours), were followed by similar works giving the history of other peoples. Venerable Bede wrote his admirable " Historia ecclesiastica gentis An- glorum ", which describes in five Ijooks the history of England from the Roman conquest to 731, though treating principally of events after St. Augustine's mission in 596 (ed. Stevenson, London, 1838; ed. Hussey, Oxford, 1846). Paulus Warnefrid (Diaconus) wrote the history of his fellow-Lomliards (Historia Langobardorum) from 568 to 733; it still remains the principal source for the history of his people. An un- known wTiter continued it to 774, and in the ninth century the monk Erchembert added the history of the Lombards of Beneventum to 8S9 (ed. Waitz in " Mon. Germ. Hist: Script, rer. Langob. et Ital.", Hanover, 1877). Paulus wi'ote also a history of the bishops of Metz ("Gesta episcoporum Mettensium", ed. in "Mon. Germ. Hist: Script.", II) and other historical works. The Scandinavian North found its ecclesiastical historian in Adam of Bremen; he covers the period between 788 and 1072, and his work is of special importance for the history of the Diocese of Hamburg-Bremen (" Gesta Hamburgensis ecclesise Pontificum ", ed. Lappenberg in " Mon. Germ. Hist: Script.", VII, 276 sqq.). Flodoard (d. 966) wrote the history of the Archdiocese of Reims (Historia ecclesiEe Remensis) to 94S, a very important source for the history of the Church of France to that time (" Mon. Germ. Hist. Script." XIII, 412 sqq.). The ecclesi- astical history of jf ort hern Germany was described by Albert Crantz, a canon of Hamburg (d. 1517), in his " Metropolis " or " Historia de ecclesiis sub Carolo Magno in Saxonia instauratis " (i. e. from 780 to 1504; Frankfort, 1576, and often reprinted). Among the special historical works of this periocl of the Western Church we must mention the " Liber Pontificalis", an important collection of papal biographies that take on larger proportions after the fourth century, are occa- sionally very lengthy in the eighth and ninth centuries, and through various continuations reach to the death of Martin V in 1431 (ed. Duchesne, 2 vols., Paris, 1886-92; ed. Mommsen, I, extending to 715, Berlin 1898). The German, Italian, French, and English chronicles, annals, and biographies of this epoch are very numerous. The more important authors of chronicles are: Regino of Priim, Hermannus Con- tractus, Lambert of Hersfeld, Otto of Freising, William of Tyre, Sigebert of Gemblours. The most important modern collections, in which the reader can find the chronicles and annals of the various Christian coun- tries, are tlit following, for England: " Rerum Britan- nicarum nietlii a>vi Scriptores, or Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain", I sqq. (London, 1858 — ); for Belgium: "Collection de Chroniques beiges", I sqq. (Brussels, 1836—); "Collection des chron- iqueurs et trouveres beiges publ. par I'Academie beige", I sqq. (Brussels, 1863 — ); " Recueil de chron- iques publie par la Society d'^mulation de Bruges " (56 vols., Bruges, 1839-64); for France: Bouquet, " Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France " (Paris, 1738—; new ed. by L. Delisle, Paris, 1869—); for Germany: " Monumenta Germ, historica: Scrip- tores", I sqq. (Hanover and Berlin, 1826 — ); for Italy: Muratori, " Rerum Italicarum Scriptores prsecipui" (25 vols., Milan, 1723-51); Idem, "Antiqui- tates Itahcse medii sevi " (6 vols., Milan, 1738-42) ; for Spain: Florez, "Espaiia sagrada" (51 vols., Madrid, 1747-1886); for Austria: "Fontes rerum Austria- carum: Scriptores" (8 vols., Vienna, 1855-75); for Poland: Bielowski, "Monumenta PoloniEe historica" (2 vols., Lemberg, 1864-72; continued by the Acad- emy of Cracow, III sqq., Cracow, 1878 — ) ; " Scriptores rerum polonicarum" (ibid., 1873 — ); for Denmark and Sweden: Langebek, "Scriptores rerum Dani- carum medii aevi" (9 vols., Copenhagen, 1772-8);