The Jacobite patriarch's world chronicle, in parallel columns of church, secular and miscellaneous events, ending four years before 1200 and shortly before his own death on 7 November 1199, which left the Syrian Orthodox church with a disputed succession in 1200. Its last books give the Seljuks of Rum under Kilij Arslan II and the partition among his sons, the Artuqids and Shah-Armens, the Armenians of Cilicia under Leo, Antioch, Edessa and Melitene, and the Jacobite monasteries. For 1200 it is the ground on which the Anatolian and Jazira positions stand, and the only narrative from the Syriac Christian side.
About this source
- Title
- Makhtbanut zabne
- Author
- Michael the Syrian, patriarch of Antioch 1166 to 1199
- Author's dates
- 1126 to 7 November 1199
- Written
- about 1180 to 1195
- Language
- Syriac
- Covers
- creation to 1195
- Kind
- Chronicle
Chabot's four volumes (1899 to 1910) are public domain; vol. 3 holds the French for the 12th century and vol. 4 the Syriac. The Armenian abridgement differs in places. Moosa's English is in copyright.
Where to read it
Editions
Translations
- J.-B. Chabot, Chronique de Michel le Syrien, vol. 3 (Paris, 1905), French, covering 1088 to 1195
- M. Moosa, The Syriac Chronicle of Michael Rabo (the Great) (Teaneck, 2014), English (not freely online)
About the source
Realms this source covers in 1200
- The Seljuk sultanate of Rum
- Armenian Cilicia: the kingdom of Leo
- Principality of Antioch
- Aleppo (al-Zahir Ghazi)
- Mardin (the Artuqids of Mardin)
- Hisn Kayfa and Amid (the Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa)
- Harput: the Artuqids of Harput
- Ahlat: the Begtimurids, heirs of the Shah-Armens
- Erzincan and Divriği: the Mengujekids
- Erzurum: the Saltukids
- The Ayyubid Jazira (al-Adil's, under al-Kamil)
- Mosul (Nur al-Din Arslan Shah)
- Kingdom of Georgia