No free photograph
George Sphrantzes
Byzantine historian · Writers · Lived 1401 to 1477 · aged 76
George Sphrantzes, also Phrantzes or Phrantza, was a late Byzantine Greek historian and Imperial courtier. He was an attendant to Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, protovestiarites under John VIII Palaiologos, and a close confidant to Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Byzantine emperor.
George Sphrantzes is read about 42 times a day, in 24 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 103 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?About this person
He was an eyewitness of the fall of Constantinople in 1453, enslaved by the victorious Ottomans, but ransomed shortly afterwards. Sphrantzes served the surviving members of the Palaiologian family for the next several years until taking monastic vows in 1472. It was while a monk he wrote his history, which ends with the notice of Sultan Mehmed II's attempt to capture Naupaktos, which he dates to the summer of 1477; Sphrantzes is assumed to have died not long after that event.
