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18-567: The tribe is attested in the Miracles of Saint Demetrius as having formed a sklavinia near the city of Thessaloniki , under a king named Perboundos in the third quarter of the seventh century. They were apparently a powerful tribe. After Perboundos was arrested and executed by Byzantine authorities, the Rhynchines rose up and allied themselves with two other nearby sklaviniai , the Sagudates and

36-673: A Blue for lawn tennis and graduated in 1940. Obolensky became a distinguished academic . He was elected a Fellow of Trinity College (1942–1948, Honorary Fellow 1991–2001) and Lecturer in Slavonic Studies, University of Cambridge (1946–1948). He became a British national in 1948. From 1949 to 1961, Obolensky was Reader in Russian and Balkan Medieval History at the University of Oxford (1949–1961) and subsequently Professor of Russian and Balkan History (1961–1985, Emeritus 1985–2001). He

54-455: A historical source. As the eminent scholar of the medieval Balkans, Dimitri Obolensky , writes, "in no other contemporary work will he find so much precise and first-hand information on the military organization and topography of Thessalonica during one of the most dramatic centuries of its history; on the methods of warfare and the techniques of siege-craft used in the Balkan wars of the time; and on

72-633: Is a unique work for the history of the city and the Balkans in general, especially in relation to the Slavic invasions of the late 6th and 7th centuries, which are otherwise neglected by contemporary sources. The Miracles comprise two books. The first was compiled between c.  610 and c.  620 by John, Archbishop of Thessalonica , and the second was compiled in the 680s. The first book enumerates fifteen episodes of Saint Demetrius's intervention on behalf of Thessalonica , most of which occurred in

90-669: Is closer to an actual historical account, with the unknown author being an eyewitness or using written annals or eyewitness testimonies for the events he is describing, i.e. the Slavic invasion and settlement of the Balkans, including a series of sieges of Thessalonica by the Slavs and the Avars, culminating in the great Slavic attack of c.  677 . Whereas in Book I John portrays the Slavs as generic barbarians,

108-665: The Drugubites , and launched an unsuccessful siege of Thessalonica (in 676–678 AD). The general assimilation of the tribe into the local population is also indicated by the fact that one of the few records of the chieftain Perbundos is that he was fluent in Greek , wore Byzantine clothes and preferred to stay in Thessalonica . Scriptures from the Athonite monastery of Kastamonitou suggests that

126-657: The fantasy novel Thessalonica , inspired by the Miracles of Saint Demetrius . The novel is based on the assumption that the miracles described did actually happen and that Saint Demetrius, as well as numerous other beings of the Christian as well as Classical Greek and Slavic mythologies, appeared and took part in the siege of Thessalonica. Dimitri Obolensky Sir Dimitri Dimitrievich Obolensky FBA FSA ( Russian : Дмитрий Дмитриевич Оболенский ; 1 April [ O.S. 19 March] 1918 – 23 December 2001)

144-678: The Rhynchinoi were converted to Christianity under the Iconoclast emperors . In the 8th and 9th centuries the Rynchinoi and Sagudates moved eastwards into Chalkidiki . Porphyrius Uspensky found a 17th-century manuscript at Kastamonitou that mentioned the Richenoi and Sagudates having come from Bulgaria across Macedonia to Mount Athos , at the time of the Iconoclasm . Later 8th century records refer to

162-410: The citizens of a beleaguered city that they stand under the supernatural protection of a heavenly patron is so vividly and poignantly expressed." The second book also preserves information on the second basilica dedicated to Saint Demetrius, before its destruction by fire in 629/634. A few of the surviving portions of the church, especially the mosaics, were re-used when the church was rebuilt. One of

180-503: The episcopate of John's predecessor, Eusebius, including outbreaks of plague and the siege of the city by the Sclaveni (proto- South Slavs ) and Avars . These episodes were written in the form of homilies or sermons, to be publicly read to the city's populace in order to demonstrate the Saint's active presence and intercession on their behalf. The second book differs considerably in style, and

198-541: The mosaics is believed by some scholars to be depicting the Archbishop John, the author of Book I of the Miracles . The main critical edition is Paul Lemerle 's two-volume (text and commentary) Les plus anciens recueils des miracles de saint Démétrius et la pénétration des Slaves dans les Balkans , Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris 1979–1981. 268 pages. American writer Harry Turtledove , who had studied Byzantine history, published in 1997

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216-471: The strategy and tactics of the northern barbarians who, thrusting southward in successive waves down river valleys and across mountain passes, sought in the sixth and seventh centuries to gain a foothold on the warm Aegean coastland and to seize its commanding metropolis which always eluded their grasp. And there can be few documents stemming from the Christian world of the Middle Ages in which the belief held by

234-412: The tribe as "Vlachorynchinoi" instead of Rhynchinoi, suggests mixing of Vlachs or Romance -speakers and the tribe, at Macedonia . Miracles of Saint Demetrius The Miracles of Saint Demetrius ( Latin : Miracula Sancti Demetrii ) is a 7th-century collection of homilies , written in Greek , accounting the miracles performed by the patron saint of Thessalonica , Saint Demetrius . It

252-409: The unknown author of Book II is far more familiar with them and their tribal divisions, listing the several Slavic tribes that settled around the city and calling them "our neighbours". Due to its change in style and focus, the second book proved less popular than the first with copyists in the following centuries, and survives in only a single manuscript. The Miracles are particularly valuable as

270-765: Was a Russian-British historian who was Professor of Russian and Balkan History at the University of Oxford and the author of various historical works. Prince Dimitri Dimitrievich Obolensky was born in the Russian Soviet Republic on 1 April 1918 in Saint Petersburg , the son of Prince Dimitri Alexandrovich Obolensky (1882–1964) and Countess Maria (Shuvalova) (1894–1973). His family was descended from Rurik , Igor , Svyatoslav , St Vladimir of Kiev , St Michael of Chernigov , and Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov : however, as one of his students has written, "he

288-1004: Was a sober enough scholar to know that Rurik may not actually have existed." After the Russian Revolution , the Royal Navy helped the Obolensky family to escape from Russia in 1919, together with the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna and the Grand Duke Nicholas . He was educated in Britain at Lynchmere Preparatory School, Eastbourne, and in France at the Lycée Pasteur in Neuilly-sur-Seine , before going up to Trinity College, Cambridge , where he distinguished himself with

306-568: Was also a Student of Christ Church, Oxford (1950–1985, Emeritus 1985–2001). He later became Vice-President of the Keston Institute, Oxford. Obolensky's most enduring achievement was The Byzantine Commonwealth (1971), a large-scale synthesis on the cultural influence of the Eastern Roman Empire . Other major studies include The Bogomils : a study in Balkan neo-Manichaeism (1946) and Six Byzantine Portraits (1988). Obolensky

324-690: Was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (1974, Vice-President 1983–85), as well as Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries , and appointed a Knight Bachelor (1984). He was a member of the Athenaeum Club . In 1988, he returned to Russia as a delegate to the Sobor or Council of the Russian Orthodox Church convoked to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of the conversion of Russia to Christianity . He

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