Michael Panaretos (
Greek:
Μιχαήλ Παναρέτος) (
1320 – c.
1390) wrote a chronicle of the
Trapezuntine empire of
Alexios I Komnenos and his successors from 1204 to 1426. Panaretos was the
protosebastos and
protonotarios in the service of
Alexios III Komnenos. His chronicle is the only direct source on Trebizond and the history of this medieval empire was almost unknown until its discovery by
Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer among the papers of
Cardinal Bessarion in the nineteenth century. The chronicle also contains much valuable material on the early history of the
Ottoman Turks, though, naturally, written from a Byzantine perspective.
Very little is known about Panaretos himself, save the few glimmers which appear in his chronicle. Panaretos makes his first appearance in an entry for 1351 when he records that he went with the mother of the emperor Alexios III,
Irene of Trebizond, against
Limnia to break the power the rebel Constantine Doranites held there. What Panaretos' exact possession was at this time is not certain, but his next appearance does not come until the Trapezuntine civil war was over when he records he went with the emperor Alexios III in a disastrous attack on Cheriana, which he himself barely escaped from with his life. Thereafter, his occurrence becomes quite frequent in the annals. In 1363, he was sent with the grand
logothetes, George Scholaris, to Constantinople and met with the emperor
John V Palaiologos, the emperor-monk
John VI Kantakuzenos, and also notably the Venetian
podestà and the capetan of Genoese Galata in order to arrange a marriage alliance between the daughter of his master and one of the sons of the emperor John V.
We also know that he had at least two sons both of whom died in 1368, one son Constantine who was fifteen, and who drowned, while the other, Romanos, who was seventeen died from disease, both of them within a relatively short period of time while Panaretos was off at Constantinople again. Panaretos was obviously heartbroken by this event because it is the only personal event that he makes mention of. His chronicle, which has been called laconic, is indeed very short and is no more than twenty pages in the printed form, though about half of the chronicle is devoted to the years between 1349 and 1390. For these years his chronicle is very informative and though it may not be as full as some might wish he says what counts. Throughout the chronicle, his countrymen are never Greeks, as was the custom in Byzantium, but always Romans, or more often than not Christians.
Greek}}}
Writing system: Greek alphabet
Official status
Official language of: Greece
Cyprus
European Union
recognised as minority language in parts of:
European Union
Italy
Turkey
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1320 in other calendars
Gregorian calendar 1320
MCCCXX
Ab urbe condita 2073
Armenian calendar 769
ԹՎ ՉԿԹ
Bah' calendar -524 – -523
Buddhist calendar 1864
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13rd century - 14th century - 15th century
1360s 1370s 1380s - 1390s - 1400s 1410s 1420s
1387 1388 1389 - 1390 - 1391 1392 1393
:
Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture -
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The Empire of Trebizond (Greek: Βασίλειον τής Τραπεζούντας) was a Byzantine Greek successor state of the Byzantine Empire founded in 1204 as a result of
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Alexios I Megas Komnenos or Alexius I Comnenus (Greek: Αλέξιος Α΄ Μέγας Κομνηνός, Alexios I Megas Komnēnos), (c.
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Alexios III Megas Komnenos or Alexius III (Greek: Αλέξιος Γ΄ Μέγας Κομνηνός, Alexios III Megas Komnēnos
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Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer (10 December 1790 – 26 April 1861) was an Tyrolean traveller, journalist, politician and historian, best known for his travel writings and for his controversial theories concerning the racial origins of the modern Greeks.
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Basilius Bessarion (in Greek Βασίλειος Βησσαρίων) (January 2 1403 – November 18 1472), mistakenly known also as Johannes Bessarion
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The Ottoman Turks were the subdivision of the Ottoman Muslim Millet that dominated the ruling class of the Ottoman Empire. The ruling class is covered under Ottoman Dynasty.
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Irene of Trebizond (Greek: Ειρήνη η μεγάλη Κομνηνή, Eirēnē ē megalē Komnēnē
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Imia (Ίμια) in Greek, or Kardak in Turkish is a set of two small uninhabited islets in the Aegean Sea, situated between the Greek island chain of the Dodecanese and the southwestern mainland coast of Turkey.
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Logothete (Greek λογοθέτης, Med. Latin logotheta, Italian: logoteta, Romanian: logofăt
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John V Palaiologos or Palaeologus (Greek: Ιωάννης Ε' Παλαιολόγος, Iōannēs V Palaiologos
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John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzene (Greek: Ιωάννης ΣΤ΄ Καντακουζηνός, Iōannēs VI Kantakouzēnos) (c.
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Podestà is the name given to certain high officials in many Italian cities, since the later Middle Ages, mainly as Chief magistrate of a city state (like otherwise styled counterparts in other cities, e.g.
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