Nikephoros Bryennios The Younger - Writings

Writings

At the suggestion of his mother-in-law he wrote a history ("Materials for a History", Greek: Ὕλη Ἱστορίας or Ὕλη Ἱστοριῶν) of the period from 1057 to 1081, from the victory of Isaac I Komnenos over Michael VI to the dethronement of Nikephoros III Botaneiates by Alexios I. The work has been described as a family chronicle rather than a history, the object of which was the glorification of the house of Komnenos. Part of the introduction is probably a later addition.

In addition to information derived from older contemporaries (such as his father and father-in-law) Bryennios made use of the works of Michael Psellos, John Skylitzes and Michael Attaleiates. As might be expected, his views are biased by personal considerations and his intimacy with the royal family, which at the same time, however, afforded him unusual facilities for obtaining material. His model was Xenophon, whom he has imitated with a tolerable measure of success; he abstains from an excessive use of simile and metaphor, and his style is concise and simple.

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