Laonikos Chalkokondyles

Laonikos Chalkokondyles (Greek: Λαόνικος Χαλκοκονδύλης; c. 1430 – c. 1470), also latinized as Laonicus Chalcocondyles, was a late medieval Greek historian from Athens. He is known for his Demonstrations of Histories in ten books, which record the last 150 years of the Byzantine Empire. According to historian Angeliki Laiou, Chalkokondyles was the first to use Byzantine to refer to the state as he advocated a neo-Hellenic identity of the Romans.

Laonikos Chalkokondyles was born to an aristocratic family in Florentine-run Duchy of Athens circa 1430–32. Laonikos' birth name was Nikolaos but he adopted the classical sounding anagram Laonikos to emphasize his classical Greek learning and interests. This was an intellectual trend that Laonikos shared with other members of his intellectual circle in Byzantine Mystras, such as Georgios Gemistos Plethon and Bessarion. In the first half of the fifteenth century, Athens was under the rule of the Florentine family of the Acciajuoli to whom the Chalkokondyli were connected by marriage ties.

Source: Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laonikos_Chalkokondyles