Chalkokondyles, Laonikos

   Byzantine historian of the Ottoman (q.v.) conquest. Born in Athens (q.v.), he was a student of the humanist George Gemistos Plethon at Mistra (qq.v.). In his old age, sometime after 1480, he composed his magisterial history ofthe rise of the Ottomans, carrying it down to the capture of Lemnos (q.v.) in 1463. His sense of chronology (q.v.) leaves much to be desired, and the modern reader will not appreciate the contrived speeches (after the manner of Thucydides). However, he did use first-rate Turkish sources and his focus on an enemy of Byzantium (q.v.) is unique among Byzantine historians, of whom he was the last.