NEW HISTORICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE DATING OF THE SACRED ARSENAL
BY ANDRONIKOS KAMATEROS
Alessandra BUCOSSI
The Sacred Arsenal (Ἱερὰ Ὁπλοθήκη) is one of the most important remaining Byzantine inedita of the twelfth century. Written by the Megas Droungarios Andronikos Kamateros for the Emperor Manuel Komnenos, it is the second of three distinctive products of the Komnenian era, “ stockpiles” of theological texts to be used in combating the enemies of Christian Orthodoxy: the Dogmatic Panoply by Euthymios Zigabenos, the Sacred Arsenal by Andronikos Kamateros and the Treasury of Orthodoxy by Niketas Choniates. These three texts are all extremely significant for understanding the theological and political issues of the twelfth century, but of these only the Sacred Arsenal remains completely unpublished and has as yet scarcely been studied. The first scholar who had the intention of editing Kamateros was Hergenröther, but as he stated in Monumenta graeca ad Photium (1869), since the amount of work was too vast he decided to dedicate himself to it at a later stage, and then, unfortunately, he failed to do so. 1 In recent times, three scholars have written more substantial contributions on the Sacred Arsenal:
J. Darrouzès, J. Spiteris and A. C. Cataldi Palau. 2 Amongst those issues that have been almost neglected, the dating of the Sacred Arsenal has remained fluctuating between 1166 and 1175.3 However, as this article will demon-
Revue des Études Byzantines 67, 2009, p. 111-130.
1. J. A. G. HERGENRÖTHER, Monumenta graeca ad Photium ejusque historiam pertinentia, quae ex variis codicibus manuscriptis collegit ediditque J. Hergenroether, Regensburg 1869, p. 7 n. 2. 2. Here are the titles of their respective studies : J. DARROUZÈS, Les documents byzantins du
XIIe siècle sur la primauté romaine, REB 23, 1965, p. 72-78 ; J. SPITERIS, La critica bizantina del primato romano nel secolo XII (OCA 208), Rome 1979, at p. 177-194 ; A. C. CATALDI PALAU, L’Arsenale Sacro di Andronico Camatero, il proemio ed il dialogo dell’imperatore con i cardinali latini : originale, imitazioni, arrangiamenti, REB 51, 1993, p. 5-62. I add also my D. Phil. thesis entitled Prolegomena to the critical edition of Ἱερὰ Ὁπλοθήκη – Sacred Arsenal by Andronikos Kamateros available for consultation at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. 3. J. DARROUZÈS (Les documents byzantins, p. 74) wrote : “ On peut estimer que l’ordre impérial relatif à la composition des deux ouvrages de Camatéros et d’Ethérien est de peu postérieur à 1166 et certainement antérieur à 1170”. J. SPITERIS (La critica bizantina, p. 185) wrote : “ Opera composta per ordine di Manuele Comneno tra il 1170 e il 1175”. A. C. CATALDI PALAU (L’Arsenale Sacro di Andronico Camatero, p. 11) wrote : “ Andronico Camatero la compose, su ordine dell’imperatore Manuele Comneno (1143-1180), per combattere le eresie dei Latini e degli Armeni, ad una data compresa tra gli anni 1166-1171”.
