NICEPHORUS, GREGORAS, a Greek historian, was born about the close of the 13th century, and flourished in the 14th, under the emperors Andronicus, John Palaeologus, and John Cantacuzenus. He was a great favourite of the elder Andronicus, who made him
librarian of the church of Constantinople, and sent him Nicepho-
ambassador to the prince of Servia. He accompanied rus,
this emperor in his misfortunes, and assisted at his Nicereen.
death; after which he repaired to the court of the younger Andronicus, where he seems to have been well received; and it is certain that, by his influence over the Greeks, that church was prevailed on to refuse entering into any conference with the legates of Pope John XXII. But in the dispute which arose between Barlaam and Palamos, taking the part of the former, he maintained it zealously in the council that was held at Constantinople in 1351, for which he was cast into prison, and continued there till the return of John Palaeologus, who released him; after which he held a disputation with Palamos, in the presence of that emperor. He compiled a history, which in 11 books contains all that passed from 1204, when Constantinople was taken by the French, to the death of Andronicus Palaeologus the younger, in 1341.—The best edition of this work is that of the Louvre, in Greek and Latin, in 1702.