Peter Schreiner
Prof. Peter Schreiner - University of Cologne;
Peter.Schreiner@uni-koeln.de
(Summary)
This article was delivered as a lecture on the 15th May of 2025 at
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. within the framework of
the National Scientific Programme “Advancement and Promotion
of Bulgarian Studies Abroad”. For more than 100 years, the
manuscript ΣΥΝΟΨΙΣ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΩΝ by one of the most prominent
Byzantine chroniclers, John Skylitzes, has been kept in Sofia. It
is the oldest manuscript thereof and was copied around ad 1100,
when the author was still alive. It also contains about 350 marginal
notes that have never been deciphered before. The Sofia manuscript
was made by the Archbishop of the Bulgarian Church in Ohrid,
Theophylact, who is also the author of the marginal notes. In the
first part of the work, covering the period from 811 to 945, Bulgaria
is mentioned 76 times, and in the second part (from 811 to 1057) – in 105 places. Thanks to his chronicle, John Skylitzes became a
true annalist of the Bulgarian medieval state.
Keywords: John Skylitzes, Sofia manuscript, Theophylact of Ohrid,
Bulgarian language, Bulgarian Empire
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