The Attack of the Rus’ on Constantinople in the Light of the Chronicon Bruxellense

Oleksandr Fylypchuk

doi:10.18778/2084-140X.12.26

Authors

Oleksandr Fylypchuk Yuri Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Department of History, Political Studies and International Relations, Kotsubynskogo St. 2, Chernivtsi, 58012 Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5185-1743

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.12.26

Keywords:

the Chronicon Bruxellense, George Monachus Continuatus’s chronicle, Constantinople, Rus’, Byzantine Empire

Abstract

The Chronicon Bruxellense does not simply provide useful information on the date of the date (year, month, and day) of the Rus’ attack on the Constantinople (18 June 860), but is crucial for a deeper understanding of nature of this chronicle and his sources. The article reveals important details about the date and structure of the Chronicon Bruxellense. It also offers his sources of description of Rus’ raid and identifies George Monachus Continuatus’s chronicle as the principal model. By seeking to construction the victory over the Rus’, his anonymous author presents as a skilled compiler. This paper engages with recent discussion on the first attack of Rus’ on the Constantinople, while also contributing to the renewed interest in the reception of the Chronicon Bruxellense in the late Byzantine literature.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Anecdota Bruxellensia, vol. I, Chroniques byzantines du manuscrit 11376, ed. F. Cumont, Gand 1894.
Google Scholar

Chronica Byzantina breviora = Die byzantinischen Kleinchroniken, vol. I, ed. P. Schreiner, Wien 1975 [= Corpus fontium historiae byzantinae, 12.1].
Google Scholar

Chronographiae quae Theophanis Continuati nomine fertur Libri I–IV, ed. J. M. Featherstone, J. Signes-Codoñer, Boston–Berlin 2015 [= Corpus fontium historiae byzantinae, 53].
Google Scholar

Georgius Monachus, ed. I. Bekker, Bonn 1838 [= Corpus scriptorum historiae byzantinae, 31].
Google Scholar

The Homilies of Photius, trans. C. Mango, Washington DC 1958 [= Dumbarton Oaks Texts, 3].
Google Scholar

Ioannis Scylitzae, Synopsis Historiarum, ed. I. Thurn, Berlin–New York 1973 [= Corpus fontium historiae byzantinae, 5].
Google Scholar

Jean Géomètre, Poèmes en hexamètres et en distiques élégiaques, ed., trans., com. E. van Opstall, Leiden–Boston 2008 [= The Medieval Mediterranean, 75].
Google Scholar

Knigy vremennyja i obrazne Georgija mniha. Hronika Georgiya Amartola v drevnem drevnerusskom perevode, vol. II, Prodolzhenije hroniki Georgija Amartola po Vatikanskomu spisku, ed. V. Istrin, Petrograd 1920.
Google Scholar

Leonis Diaconi Caloensis Historiae libri decem, ed. C. B. Hase, Bonn 1829 [= Corpus scriptorum historiae byzantinae, 30].
Google Scholar

Leonis Grammatici Chronographia, ed. I. Bekker, Bonn 1842 [= Corpus scriptorum historiae byzantinae, 31].
Google Scholar

Michaelis Pselli Historia Syntomos, ed. J. Aerts, Berlin 1990 [= Corpus fontium historiae byzantinae, 30].
Google Scholar

Nicetas David, The Life of Patriarch Ignatius, ed., trans. A. Smithies, J. Duffy, Washington 2013 [= Dumbarton Oaks Texts, 13].
Google Scholar

Nicolai I Papae epistolae, ed. E. Perels, Berlin 1925 [= Monumenta Germaniae historica, Epistolae, 6].
Google Scholar

Photios, Homiliai, ed. B. Laourdas, Thessaloniki 1959.
Google Scholar

Pseudo-Symeon, Chronicle, ed. (partial) I. Bekker, Bonn 1838 [= Corpus scriptorum historiae byzantinae, 35].
Google Scholar

Symeonis Magistri et Logothetae, ed. S. Wahlgren, Berlin 2006.
Google Scholar

Synaxarium Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae, ed. H. Delehaye, Brussels 1902.
Google Scholar

Theodosii Meliteni qui fertur Chronographia. Ex codice graeco Regiae bibliothecae monacensis, ed. Th. Tafel, Munich 1859.
Google Scholar

Theophanis Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, Leipzig 1883.
Google Scholar

Vita of Athanasios of Athos, Version B, ed. J. Noret, [in:] Vitae duae antiquae Sancti Athanasii Athonitae, Turnhout 1982, p. 127–213 [= Corpus christianorum, Series graeca, 9].
Google Scholar

Angelov D., The Byzantine Hellene. The Life of Emperor Theodore Laskaris and Byzantium in the Thirteenth Century, Cambridge 2019, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108690874
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108690874

de Boor С., Der Angriff der Rhos auf Byzanz, “Byzantinische Zeitschrift” 4, 1895, p. 445–466, https://doi.org/10.1515/byzs.1895.4.3.445
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/byzs.1895.4.3.445

Franklin S., Shepard J., The Emergence of Rus 750–1200, London–New York 1996.
Google Scholar

Gautier P., Diatribes de Jean l’Oxite contre Alexis Ier Comnène, “Revue des études byzantines” 28, 1970, p. 5–55, https://doi.org/10.3406/rebyz.1970.1427
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/rebyz.1970.1427

Giannouli A., Eine Rede auf das Akathistos-Fest (BHG 1140, CPG 8197) und Theodoros II. Dukas Laskaris, “Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik” 51, 2001, p. 259–283.
Google Scholar

Golubinskij E., Istorija russkoj tserkvi, vol. I, Moscov 1997.
Google Scholar

Hrushevsky M., History of Ukraine-Rus’, vol. I, From Prehistory to the Eleventh Century, Edmonton–Toronto 1997.
Google Scholar

Kazhdan A., Joseph the Hymnographer and the First Russian Attack on Constantinople, [in:] From Byzantium to Iran. In Honour of Nina Garsoïan, ed. J.-P. Mahé, R. Thomson, Atlanta 1996, p. 187–196.
Google Scholar

Külzer A., Studien zum Chronicon Bruxellense, “Byzantion” 61, 1991, p. 413–447.
Google Scholar

Kuzenkov P., Pohod 860 g. na Konstantinopol i pervoje kreschenije Rusi v srednevekovyh pismennyh istochnikah, [in:] Drevneyshije gosudarstva Vostochnoj Evropy. Materialy i issledovanija. Problemy istochnikovedenija, ed. E. Melnikova, Moscov 2003, p. 3–172.
Google Scholar

Lauxtermann M., Byzantine Poetry from Pisides to Geometres. Texts and Contexts, vol. I, Vienna 2003 [= Wiener Byzantinistische Studien, 24.1], https://doi.org/10.1553/0x00034c77
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1553/0x00034c77

Marjanovic-Dušanic S., L’écho du culte de Nicéphore Phocas chez les Slaves des Balkans, [in:] Le saint, le moine et le paysan. Mélanges d’histoire byzantine offerts à Michel Kaplan, ed. O. Delouis, S. Métivier, P. Pagès, Paris 2016, p. 375–394, https://doi.org/10.4000/books.psorbonne.37690
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/books.psorbonne.37690

Montinaro F., The Chronicle of Theophanes in the Indirect Tradition, “Travaux et mémoires” 19, 2015, p. 177–205.
Google Scholar

Morris R., The Two Faces of Nikephoros Phokas, “Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies” 12, 1988, p. 83–115, https://doi.org/10.1179/byz.1988.12.1.83
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/byz.1988.12.1.83

Neville L., Guide to Byzantine Historical Writing, Cambridge 2018, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139626880
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139626880

Nikolov A., On Basil II’s Cognomen ‘The Bulgar-Slayer’, [in:] Evropeiskiiat Iugoistok prez vtorata polovina na X – nachaloto na XI vek. Istoriia i kultura. Mezhdunarodna konferentsiia Sofia, 6–8 Oktomvri, 2014, ed. V. Giuzelev, G. N. Nikolov, Sofija 2015, p. 578–584.
Google Scholar

Petit L., Office inédit en l’honneur de Nicéphore Phocas, “Byzantinische Zeitschrift” 13, 1904, p. 328–342, https://doi.org/10.1515/byzs.1904.13.2.398
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/byzs.1904.13.2.398

Schreiner P., Miscellanea Byzantino-Russica, “Византийский временник” / “Vizantijski Vremenik” 52, 1991, p. 151–160.
Google Scholar

Schreiner P., Orbis Byzantinus. Byzanz und seine Nachbarn. Gesammelte Aufsätze 1970–2011, Bucuresti 2013 [= Florilegium magistrorum historiae archaeologiaeque Antiquitatis et Medii Aevi, 12].
Google Scholar

Shepard J., Photios’ Sermons on the Rus Attack of 860: the Questions of his Origins, and of the Route of the Rus, [in:] Prosopon Rhomaikon. Ergänzende Studien zur Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit, ed. A. Beihammer, B. Krönung, C. Ludwig, Berlin–Boston 2017 [= Millennium-Studien, 68], p. 111–128, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110533804-009
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110533804-009

Stephenson P., The Legend of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer, Cambridge 2003.
Google Scholar

Sullivan D., The Rise and Fall of Nikephoros II Phokas. Five Contemporary Texts in Annotated Translations, Leiden 2018 [= Byzantina Australiensia, 23], https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004382169
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004382169

Tolochko A., Ocherki nachal’noj Rusi, Kyiv 2015.
Google Scholar

Treadgold W., The Middle Byzantine Historians, Basingstoke 2013, https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137280862
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137280862

Vasil’evskij V., God pervogo nashestvija russkih na Konstantinopol, “Византийский временник” / “Vizantijski Vremenik” 1, 1894, p. 258–259.
Google Scholar

Vasiliev A., The Russian Attack on Constantinople in 860, Cambridge 1946.
Google Scholar

Wortley J., The Marian Relics at Constantinople, “Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies” 45, 2005, p. 171–187.
Google Scholar

Zuckerman C., Deux étapes de la formation de l’ancien État russe, [in:] Les centres proto-urbains russes entre Scandinavie Byzance et Orient, ed. M. Kazanski, A. Nercessian, C. Zuckerman, Paris 2000 [= Réalités Byzantines, 7], p. 95–121.
Google Scholar