John Kinnamos

Joannes Kinnamos or John Cinnamus ( or Κίναμος or Σίνναμος; fl. 12th century) was a Byzantine historian. He was imperial secretary (Greek "grammatikos," most likely a post connected with the military administration) to Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180), whom he accompanied on his campaigns in Europe and Asia Minor. It appears that Kinnamos outlived Andronikos I Komnenos, who died in 1185.

Kinnamos was the author of a history that covered the 1118-1176, thereby continuing the Alexiad of Anna Komnene, and covering the reigns of John II Komnenos and Manuel I, up until Manuel's unsuccessful campaign against the Turks, which ended with the disastrous Battle of Myriokephalon and the rout of the Byzantine army. He was probably an eye-witness to the events of the last ten years that he describes.

Kinnamos's work breaks off abruptly, though it is highly likely that the original continued to the death of Manuel. There are also indications that the present work is an abridgment of a much larger work. The hero of the history is Manuel, and throughout the history Kinnamos attempts to highlight what he sees as the superiority of the Eastern Empire to the West. Similarly, he is a determined opponent of what he perceives as the pretensions of the papacy. Nevertheless, he writes with the straightforwardness of a soldier, and occasionally admits his ignorance of certain events. The work is well organized arranged, and its style, modeled on Xenophon, is simple, especially when compared with the florid writing of other Byzantine authors. William Plate considers him the best of the European historians of this period.

John Kinnamos is also credited for writing a book on one of the Angeli emperors, however this book is believed to be lost (perhaps together with the rest of his much larger work).

The first reference of his writings can be found in the catalogue known as Vaticanus graecus, it is described as :"Historie cuis(us)dam Manasse vulgari versu.|Item choniati i(n) satis bono stilo a t(em)po(r)ib(us) Io. Comnei"