Georgii Pachymeris de Michaele et Andronico Palaeologis libri tredecim (Greek, Ancient (to 1453), Paperback)

This history of the reigns of the first two emperors of the Palaiologos Dynasty by George Pachymeres (1242 1310) was edited by the German scholar Immanuel Bekker (1785 1871) on the basis of the work of the French Jesuit, Pierre Poussines (1609 86), and published in two volumes in 1835. The family of Pachymeres, like the aristocratic Palaiologoi, had fled to the neighbouring empire of Nicaea (Iznik) after the capture of Constantinople by the Franks in 1204. Michael Palaiologos (1223 82) became leader of the armies in Nicaea in 1259; two years later he had driven the Latins from Constantinople and was crowned Emperor Michael VIII, with his two-year-old son Andronikos (1259 1332) as his co-ruler and heir. Pachymeres also wrote on music, rhetoric and philosophy, but is best remembered for this history of his own times. Volume 1 describes the life and reign of Michael Palaiologos.