John VI Kantakouzenos (ca 1295-1383) : Byzantium between Islam and the West – JEANVI

This project builds on a full French translation (956 pages) of John VI’s Histories completed by the Sorbonne professor of Byzantine studies Rodolphe Guilland (1888-1981). The author bequeathed this translation in 1977 to the French Institute of Byzantine Studies (IFEB) but it remained unnoticed until now.

At the date of April 2015, the archive has been digitized (2012), two postdoctoral fellows were hired (2013-2014, Anna Lampadaridi and Raúl Estanguï Gómez), an international workshop was organized (june 2014), the entire text was controlled and modified according to the Greek original (2014) and half of the text has received its historical annotation (2014-2015).

The three edited volumes will be:
John VI Kantakouzenos, or Byzantium between Islam and the West, I. Histories. French translation by Rodolphe Guilland (†) edited and annotated under the direction of Olivier Delouis, 2 vols.
John VI Kantakouzenos,or Byzantium between Islam and the West, II. Emperor and monk. A thematic biography directed by Olivier Delouis, 1 vol.

See www.jeanvi.fr for details on the project achievments.

The project JEANVI is to publish a full annotated French translation of John VI Kantakouzenos’ Histories, a fundamental source for understanding the history of Eastern Europe in the fourteenth century. Secondly, a new thematic biography of John VI Kantakouzenos (1295/96-1388) written by a young generation of historians specialized in the late Byzantine period will be written, including contributions by foreign leading scholars.

This project builds on the significant discovery made in autumn 2010 of a full French translation (956 pages) of John VI’s Histories completed by the Sorbonne professor of Byzantine studies Rodolphe Guilland (1888-1981). The author bequeathed this translation in 1977 to the French Institute of Byzantine Studies (IFEB) but it remained unnoticed until now. This work will be carefully anotated and revised.

The three edited volumes will be: John VI Kantakouzenos : Byzantium between Islam and the West, I. Histories. French translation by Rodolphe Guilland (†) edited and annotated under the direction of Olivier Delouis, 2 vols. John VI Kantakouzenos : Byzantium between Islam and the West, II. Emperor and monk. A thematic biography directed by Olivier Delouis, 1 vol.

Note: The project has already been submitted in 2011. All comments have been taken into account. Many points have been added : they are in bold un the project document.