Circumstances of the Publication of the So-called Catalogue of Du Cange

Circumstances of the Publication of the So-called Catalogue of Du Cange and the Role of Charles Du Fresne, Sieur Du Cange (1610 – 1688), for the Development of Byzantine Studies in Seventeenth-Century France

Prof. Liliana Simeonova, DSc

The so-called Catalogue of Du Cange is an important source of church history in Byzantium and particularly of the history of the Archbishopric of Ohrid. The Catalogue consists of a list of bishoprics, which were suffragan of Ohrid. It was published as an appendix to Du Cange’s Historia byzantina. Charles du Fresne, seigneur du Cange was one of the lay members of the group of French critics and scholars who laid the foundations of modern historical criticism in seventeenth-century France. The present study explores the obstacles that Du Cange had to overcome in order to have his work published by the Imprimerie royale in 1680...