A week ago I was searching to see if there was an English translation of the Byzantine history by George Cedrenus. An awful lot of Byzantine chronicles have been translated (for the first time!) by Australian scholars, so I knew that it was a possibility.
Well, I drew a blank. No English translation exists. The old Bonn edition with a Latin translation at the bottom is what you have to use, and be grateful.
However I have heard from Byzantinist Roger Scott that a translation is in progress! Apparently Paul Tuffin, John Burke and himself have been at work on it for some years, and have translated some 500 pages, with a draft commentary. The Bonn edition is 1,500 pages, but they intend to leave aside the last 650 pages, which Cedrenus copied pretty much verbatim from John Scilitzes, as there is an excellent English translation of the latter by John Wortley. So they have around 350 pages to go. The work probably won’t appear for at least two years.
Dr Scott also tells me that an Italian team are at work on a new critical edition, with Italian translation.
It will be good to have Cedrenus! Let us wish them all plenty of success!
UPDATE (19/03/2018) : Dr Scott has kindly let me know that the translation is still in progress. A draft has been completed of the whole thing, but the Italian critical edition[1] has now appeared, and necessitated quite a bit more revision than had been expected. The translation probably will not be ready before the end of 2019. I have also come across information here.
- [1]Luigi Tartaglia, Georgii Cedreni Historiarum Compendium, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 2016, in two volumes, can be purchased online from Bardi Edizioni. ISBN for vol. 1 is 8821811204 / 9788821811203.↩