Edition of the ecclesiastical history of Xanthopoulos

This application contents a new edition of the Historia ecclesiastica of Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos, written at the beginning of the 14th century. This critical edition is intended to replace an edition scientifically insufficient which was published in 1630 by Henri Estienne (and republished by Jean-Paul Migne for his Patrologia Graeca). For the three years of the applied project the middle triad of the historia ecclesiastica, comprehending a total of 18 books, was chosen, on the one hand because books VII-XII deal with a period whose historical sources developed up to now are made accessible in new editions and in the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae; on the other hand because this critical edition of the middle triad optimally fits in the whole edition, divided between the two main editors (Prof. Dr. Albrecht Berger, Byzantinische Kunstgeschichte und Neogräzistik der Universität München; Dr. Christian Gastgeber, Institut für Byzanzforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften) in three parts (Part 1, Books I-VI: Berger; Part 2, Books VII-XII: the designated collaborator Sebastiano Panteghini in cooperation with Christian Gastgeber; Part III, Books XIII-XVIII Gastgeber). The innovative aspect of this project will not only be a critical edition (which will appear in the Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae) conform to all standards of a such new text edition, but also a detailed analysis of the sources. Especially this analysis will require philological acuteness, because Xanthopoulos made use of different methods in choosing his main source within diverging traditions. Principally he preferred a source corresponding to the official doctrine of the Greek church (about 1300); regarding Xanthopoulos` linguistic and stylistic applications of (verifiable) sources (also of manuscripts) he made use of paraphrases based upon the morphological structure of the words given by the sources, nevertheless altering them through typical Byzantine variatio (minima). His individual approach to the material can be seen particularly in these parts meeting his special liturgical and hagiographical interest. Besides the critical edition this project aims at networking by presenting und exchanging scientific information about the person (Xanthopoulos) and his method of writing an ecclesiastical history to an international audience. For this reason at the one hand meetings with the German co-partner Prof. Albrecht Berger are planned, at the other hand, from the second year of this application on, results shall be presented and discussed in three special workshops and symposia as well as reflected in a broader cultural, historical horizon. Finally, within the framework of this project it is intended to apply methods of the so called paleographical prosopography to the social prosopographical classification of the collaborators` circle around Xanthopoulos.

This application contents a new edition of the Historia ecclesiastica of Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos, written at the beginning of the 14th century. This critical edition is intended to replace an edition scientifically insufficient which was published in 1630 by Henri Estienne (and republished by Jean-Paul Migne for his Patrologia Graeca). For the three years of the applied project the middle triad of the historia ecclesiastica, comprehending a total of 18 books, was chosen, on the one hand because books VII-XII deal with a period whose historical sources developed up to now are made accessible in new editions and in the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae; on the other hand because this critical edition of the middle triad optimally fits in the whole edition, divided between the two main editors (Prof. Dr. Albrecht Berger, Byzantinische Kunstgeschichte und Neogräzistik der Universität München; Dr. Christian Gastgeber, Institut für Byzanzforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften) in three parts (Part 1, Books I-VI: Berger; Part 2, Books VII-XII: the designated collaborator Sebastiano Panteghini in cooperation with Christian Gastgeber; Part III, Books XIII-XVIII Gastgeber). The innovative aspect of this project will not only be a critical edition (which will appear in the Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae) conform to all standards of a such new text edition, but also a detailed analysis of the sources. Especially this analysis will require philological acuteness, because Xanthopoulos made use of different methods in choosing his main source within diverging traditions. Principally he preferred a source corresponding to the official doctrine of the Greek church (about 1300); regarding Xanthopoulos` linguistic and stylistic applications of (verifiable) sources (also of manuscripts) he made use of paraphrases based upon the morphological structure of the words given by the sources, nevertheless altering them through typical Byzantine variatio (minima). His individual approach to the material can be seen particularly in these parts meeting his special liturgical and hagiographical interest. Besides the critical edition this project aims at networking by presenting und exchanging scientific information about the person (Xanthopoulos) and his method of writing an ecclesiastical history to an international audience. For this reason at the one hand meetings with the German co-partner Prof. Albrecht Berger are planned, at the other hand, from the second year of this application on, results shall be presented and discussed in three special workshops and symposia as well as reflected in a broader cultural, historical horizon. Finally, within the framework of this project it is intended to apply methods of the so called paleographical prosopography to the social prosopographical classification of the collaborators` circle around Xanthopoulos.