He initially took up politics as a career and held several appointments under the Angelus emperors (amongst them that of "great logothete" or chancellor) and was governor of the "theme" of Philippopolis at a critical period.
After the fall of Constantinople he fled to Nicaea, where he settled at the court of the emperor Theodoras Lascaris, and devoted himself to literature. He died between 1210 and 1220. His chief work is his History, in 21 books, of the period from 1180 to 1206.
In spite of its florid and bombastic style, it is of considerable value as a record (on the whole impartial) of events of which he was either an eye-witness or had heard at first hand. Its most interesting portion is the description of the capture of Constantinople, which should be read with Villehardouin's and Paolo Rannusio[?]'s works on the same subject. The little treatise On the Statues destroyed by the Latins (perhaps, as we have it, altered by a later writer) is of special interest to the archaeologist. His dogmatic work (Thesaurus Orthodoxae Fidei), although it is extant in a complete form in manuscripts, has only been published in part. It is one of the chief authorities for the heresies and heretical writers of the 12th century.
Contains material originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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