Matteos Urhaeci , Matteos from Urha ( Armenian Մատթէոս Ուռհայեցի ; date of birth unknown - 1144 ) - Armenian historian and chronicler of the 12th century hailing from the city of Edessa (Urha)
| Matteos Urhaeci | |
|---|---|
| Մատթէոս Ուռհայեցի | |
| Date of Birth | |
| Place of Birth | Edessa , Byzantium |
| Date of death | 1144 |
| Place of death | Edessa , County of Edessa |
| Scientific field | historian |
| Known as | Chronography |
Content
Biography
Matteos Urhaeci, an eyewitness to a number of important events in the history of Armenia , was born in the second half of the 11th century in Edessa (Urhe), where he lived his entire conscious life and died presumably between 1138 and 1144 . [one]
Activities
The style of the story of Matthew of Eden is very meticulous and attention to detail. The works of Matvey of Edessa are the only surviving sources of information about the church and secular events of his native region in the modern Matvey era. Matvey was a passionate Armenian patriot and in his writings he praised heroism and mourned the plight of his people. Thanks to him, two important documents of that time survived to this day - a letter from the Byzantine emperor John Tzimiskes to the Armenian king Ashot III and a recording of a speech delivered in the presence of Emperor Constantine X Duki Gagik II , the expelled Armenian king from the Bagratid dynasty, regarding disagreements between Constantinople Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic Churches.
From the works of Matvey of Edes, one can also draw a lot of information about the events of the first crusades and the struggle of Byzantium with the Arabs for the right to own the territories of northern Syria and eastern Asia Minor . Matvey of Edessa was allegedly killed in 1144 during the capture of Edessa by the Seljuks, led by the Mosul emir Imad ad-Din Zangi .
Chronography
The “chronography” of Urhaeci consists of three parts. The first part covers the events from 952 to 1051, the second - from 1051 to 1101 , the third - from 1101 to 1136/37 . If the events of recent years of the second and third parts took place with the direct attention of the author, then for the first and most of the second parts he used third-party sources. Matteos himself writes on this occasion that he described the history of the events of 952-1051 on the basis of the stories "much earlier than eyewitnesses and witnesses were born and reading the works of old historians who were eyewitnesses of all incidents." Until recently, it was unclear which historians Matteos had in mind until the work of L. S. Khachikyan appeared in 1971 , in which he convincingly proved that the work of Hakob Sanahinzi is the main source of the first and a number of places in the second part of the Chronography [one]
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 V. A Harutyunova-Fidanyan // Armenian medieval historians on the expansion of the Byzantine Empire to the East in the X — XI centuries // Historical and Philological Journal. 1978. No. 2 pp. 191–206Original text (Russian)The next time source is Chronography by Matteos Urhaeci16. Matteos was born and lived in Edessa (Urhe) in the second half, maybe at the end of the 11th century. and died between 1138 and 1144 His work consists of three parts. The first part covers the events from 952 to 1051, the second from 1051 to 1101, the third from 1101 to 1136/37, that is, the time period of interest to us is described in the first and second parts of his work, and if the events of the latter the years of the second and third parts took place under him, then for the first and most of the second he used some sources. Matteos himself writes that the history of events is 952-1051. on the basis of short stories, he set out “much earlier witnesses and witnesses were born and reading the works of old historians who were eyewitnesses of all incidents” (p. 112). Until recently, it was unclear which or what kind of historians Matteos had in mind, since he did not use any of the historians known to us of this period (Shapuh Bagratuni, Hovhannes Draskhanakertzi, Stepanos Taronezi-Asohik, Aristakes Lastivertzn). In 1971, an article by L. S. Khachikyan appeared in which he examines the newly discovered fragments of the historical work of the wardap Hakob Sanainzi and convincingly proves that this work is the main source of the first and a number of places in the second part of the Chronography
Links
- Matthew of Eden. Chronography . Date of treatment February 17, 2013. Archived on August 5, 2012.
- Excerpts from the Chronography of Matthew of Eden Letter from Emperor John Tzimiskes to the Armenian King Ashot III
- Mattʿēos Uṙhayecʿi and His Chronicle: History as Apocalypse in a Crossroads of Cultures / Tara L. Andrews. - BRILL, 2016.
- Christopher MacEvitt. The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa: Apocalypse, the First Crusade and the Armenian Diaspora // Dumbarton Oaks Papers. - 2007 .-- T. 61 . - S. 157-181 .