Forgery of a Chronicle - Chronicle of a Forgery. Formation and Tradition of the so-called Chronicon maius by Pseudo-Sphrantzes

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The so-called Chronicon maius by Pseudo-Sphrantzes is a stylistically and literarily reworked as well as chronologically extended version of the diary of Georgios Sphrantzes, also known as Chronicon minus. Sphrantzes, a top-ranking diplomate and personal friend of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI (1449-1453), was an eye-witness of the conquest of Constantinople. Therefore, a high authenticity had been attributed to both works published under his name, until, in the 1930s, suspicion arose that the Chronicon maius was a forgery, compiled in Italy by a group of manuscript traders and copyists under the supervision of the exiled metropolitan bishop of Monembasia not earlier than after the battle of Lepanto (1571). The text was probably written with intent to motivate the Christian occident for a further crusade, this time in order to free the City of Constantinople from the Osmans and to re-establish the Byzantine Empire. Originally, the project aimed at reapraising the source situation as well as, by the study of hitherto disregarded documents, to explore the historical background of the work and the personal situation of its compilators. However, the hitherto collected results strongly suggest to combine this task with a new critical edition of the text which, in the first years already, developed several versions and, for centuries, was considered to be one of the most important Greek sources of the conquest.