Books by Donald M. (King's College London) Nicol

Donald Nicol tells the gripping story of the life and death of Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Christian Emperor of Constantinople and Byzantium. The book ends with an intriguing account of claims by reputed descendants of his family - some remarkably recent - to be heirs to the Byzantine throne.

This was the first biography in English of one of the most unusual Byzantine emperors in Constantinople who reigned from 1347 to 1354, and who subsequently spent thirty years as a monk. John Cantacuzene was unique in that he wrote his own memoirs and in his range of talents and interests as a soldier, scholar, and theologian.

This book presents an English translation of the full text with a preface, commentary and notes; a discussion of the sources which Spandounes might have consulted and an assessment of the value and interest of this hitherto neglected and undervalued treatise.